Three Wrongs Make A Right
by Dark and Wild
Summary: Bella is a 32-year old single mom with a 15-year old daughter named Riley. She's had a very bad past with men, but when gentleman Edward Cullen comes, can he change that? When one of Bella's old boyfriends stroll into town, can he protect them both?
1. Chapter 1

**Three Wrongs Make A Right**

**By: Dark and Wild**

Hey, everyone! This is my first real FanFic in a really long time, and I was mainly inspired 'cause I went to go see an opera production of Hansel and Gretel and just saw the Twilight move twice this weekend. XD Really awkward things inspire me, I know. Just like to **disclaim **any of Stephenie Meyer's characters because they're not mine (though I wish Edward was, just like about every other teenage girl in America). Riley is mine though, and I take credit for her only. The lengthened summary is below, and remember to R&R, because it makes my life! Thanks, and enjoy!

Bella is a 32-year old theatre single mom, with her fifteen-year old daughter Riley. Edward is a single 33-year old guy who is finally coming home to his hometown of Chicago. With Bella's rotten past with guys, she's reluctant to begin a new relationship, and yet Edward's determined to open her up, as her daughter Riley wants her to be happy. But when one of Bella's old boyfriends (her worst and the father of Riley), shows up to town, can Edward and her friends protect the family of two? Or will one of them be lost forever? Rated M for language, abuse, violence (and a possible lemon later on), and slightly OOCish because I'm not great at writing Bella and Edward. Riley I can do. =D

X-x-X

**Chapter 1: The Day-Mares**

_Bella_

"Mom!" my fifteen-year old daughter, Riley, shouted from the kitchen. "Aunt Alice wants to talk to you! She says it's urgent."

I rolled my eyes and let out a smile. If Alice thought something was urgent, it more than likely had to do with a shortage of fabric or a party coming up in a few years that I didn't have an outfit for yet. "Coming!" I called out, as I rushed from the living room into the kitchen where Riley was waiting, our house phone stretched out in her hand.

Riley looked and acted a lot like me. Like myself, she had dark hair and chocolate brown eyes. She even had my pale skin, which was an albino trait that I had preferred not to pass on to my children. She didn't even look at me as I took the phone – she was concentrating on the homework that Alice, her home-school teacher and godparent, had given her. Her forehead was creased in the middle like mine always was whenever I was frustrated. I smiled as I brought the phone to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Isabella Swan!" cried an exasperated, pixyish voice from the other end of the line. It was Alice Cullen, my best friend and soul sister. "What took you so long? I was afraid I'd have to convey this news to Riley!"

I laughed, and Riley sent me a look that said, 'I'm doing my homework – get out of here!' I obeyed and went out into the tiled hallway. "It only took me about fifteen seconds to get to the phone, Alice. Don't get worked up over it. Relax, I'm here. Now what news is so urgent that you had to interrupt my nice, peaceful afternoon with my daughter?"

Alice snorted, openly disagreeing about my 'peaceful' afternoon. "Actually, it's not really _urgent_ just yet. I just got a call from my brother."

"Which one? Emmett or the one that abandoned you here in Chicago with me?" I asked, smiling slightly. I knew Alice had a rather large family – as in, larger than mine. She was the youngest of three, and both of her older siblings were boys. One was Emmett, one of the crewmembers at the Chicago Metropolitan Theater where I worked. He was a big, muscled guy that openly dated one of our actresses, Rosalie Hale. Alice's other brother was one I had never actually met, because he didn't want to stay in Chicago with his siblings. Every time he was in town, I was normally away. Riley had never met him either.

"The one that left, Edward. He called to say that he decided to come home, after like fifteen years. He wants to meet you and Riley, because I told him all about Riley's amazing-ness and your bizarre ability to put a show together. He'll be arriving on a plane tomorrow. Isn't that exciting? Riley is going to have another uncle!" Alice said cheerfully.

Despite her obviously bad past with her brother Edward, Alice still seemed perky about him coming home. I laughed bitterly. "Great, yet another crazy uncle. Riley needs another one of those."

At the moment, Riley had two men that she considered uncles. There was Emmett, who had practically been the one to teach her all of the bad things that she knew (for instance, I'm fairly sure that while not in my presence, Riley used words like 'shit' and 'hell'). Then there was her actual uncle, Uncle Jasper. Jasper was my older brother by two years, and was Alice's fiancé. He had a cool, collected attitude and was very protective over Riley and me. I appreciated his kindness, and Riley loved him to death.

Alice's tinkling laughed brought me back to the present. "You bet she does," she amended.

I rolled my eyes and glanced back into the kitchen, where Riley was now chewing on her pencil, obviously stumped by something on her homework. "Well, I think what she really needs right now is some help on her homework. Care to indulge?"

Alice chuckled. "Anything for my favorite niece," she said, though it sounded more like a chirp.

"She's your only niece," I teased back, and went back into the kitchen where Riley was leaning against the counter. I handed her the phone, smiling. 'Homework help,' I mouthed. Riley smiled in thanks and took the phone. I went to the table, where a stack of monthly bills was being kept. I sat down and began working on them as I listened to my daughter.

"Aunt Alice, I need some help here," she said frankly, glaring at the piece of paper as if it were the paper's fault she was having troubles with it.

She paused for a moment before saying, "It's just… hard. I hate math. It's the inequalities part."

Again, another pause. I sighed, pretending to be interested in the bills as I pulled a calculator close and began observing the taxes and typing them out onto the calculator.

"'Kay," Riley then said, furiously scribbling onto her homework. "Thanks, Aunt Alice. That helped a lot. Do you want to talk to Mom now for a bit, or do you have to go?" She paused, glancing at me and then looking down again. "Oh, alright. Tell Uncle Jasper I said hi. Yeah. Love you too. See you tomorrow. Bye." She hit the 'Off' button and put the phone back on the hook. She began writing again on her homework, facing away from me.

"So what did Aunt Alice want to talk about?" Riley then asked, trying to only sound mildly curious. But, being her mother who had known her before she had even known me, I could see underneath her pretenses. She was exceptionally nosy and wanted to know. I suppose she inherited that from her grandmother (my mother), Renee.

I copied down a sum from the calculator. "Oh. Her other brother, who left here before you were born, is coming home in a day or two. She just wanted to let me know," I answered. I never lied to Riley, because she was my daughter and we had made an agreement before her teenage years that we would never lie to one another. That pact had lasted about three years and we were still counting.

"Wait… Uncle Edward?" Riley asked. "He visited for Christmas and Thanksgiving once or twice. He gave me those huge gift cards to Macy's last year in the mail. You don't remember?"

I shrugged. "I don't really pay attention to things like that," I replied tartly. "You know I don't."

Riley rolled her eyes. "More like you forget," she mumbled. "And he's cool… sort of. He's a little distant, you know what I mean? But he's nice. At least that's what Aunt Alice told me. Last time, well, the only time he was here in Chicago… we were out at Grandpa Charlie's."

I sighed, shrugging again as I pushed away the bills and made a face. "Well, whatever the case, we'll be meeting him tomorrow at the theatre. Alice will probably bring him to work." I rubbed my face and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. "Are you hungry? We can go out for a burger or something. I can call Jasper, and he could come with us. Alice might be able to come too, if she isn't caught up in the world of pre-auditions for _Anastasia_."

"But we just talked to Aunt Alice," Riley pointed out. "And I have to finish my homework."

I stood. "I'll call her back, you finish. They can come pick us up or something like that when you're done. Sound good?"

Riley nodded and looked down at her homework with a frown. "Yeah. Go ahead."

I went and grabbed the phone off the hook and went into the living room, to give Riley a form of privacy as she finished. I dialed Alice's cell (Jasper never had his on, so it would have been completely pointless to call him) and put it to my ear. It only rang twice before Alice's chirp-like voice clicked on.

"Hey, Bells!" she cheeped. "What happened? Does Riley need more help?"

I smiled and glanced back into the kitchen. Riley was bent over her homework, scribbling frantically into her school notebook. I was pretty sure there would be no disturbing her for a while. She was on a good track. "No, Riley's good with her homework. Say, listen. Do you want to head with me and Riley to dinner or something, if you're not busy? Jasper can come too, if he's not with lighting crew right now," I offered.

Alice paused. "I'll come, sure thing, Bells," she replied. "But let me ask Jazzy. He might have to stick around with Emmett to figure out lighting…" I heard her set down the phone and a few muted voices. It took a moment before I heard Alice pick up the phone again. She giggled enthusiastically, and I raised an eyebrow. I wonder what kind of remark Jasper had to have made in order to get that reaction out of her. "Sure, Bella. We'll both be there tonight. You want us to come pick you up, for old time's sake?" she asked gently.

"Yeah. At least, that was what I had in mind," I answered.

"That's fine! Great! We'll see you in about a half-an-hour. Jazz has to finish up the lighting scheme with Emmett and then we'll be right over. Bye!" The phone clicked dead and I went to hang it up in the kitchen.

Riley was in there, closing her notebook and tucked her pencil in the spiral binding. I raised my eyebrows at her and she shrugged. "It was easy once I knew what to do," she told me.

My daughter was probably one of the smartest people I knew. Even smarter than I was, considering as she had Alice as her private home-schooling teacher. When I had last spoken to Alice regarding Riley's schoolwork, Alice had told me that she was very close to graduating from tenth grade (by the city's standards), and it wasn't even October yet. Riley almost always finished her school year within a few months of beginning it. It boggled my mind, really.

"Have you spoken to Aunt Alice about graduating tenth grade?" I asked her as I sat back down at the table to do taxes.

Riley sat across from me, taking half the stack and producing her own calculator. She bent over them and began helping out. "You don't have to do that," I protested as she began working, ignoring my question. Riley sent me one of her 'looks' and rolled her eyes.

"Mom, I said on my birthday a few months ago that I was going to start helping you out," she said. "And since you refuse to let me get a job, I'm helping do the bills. It's the least I can do. I hate sitting around and watching you work all the time. It makes me feel bad." She had a point, I had to admit. I didn't want Riley working, considering as she was only fifteen and this was Chicago. It was a horrible place for someone as young as her to be working, with everything going on.

"I just don't want you getting hurt," I told her for the billionth time.

Riley just rolled her eyes. "Well, I highly doubt I'll get hurt paying the bills," she retorted. "Unless they turn into some form of monster and attack me."

I gasped. Riley started, looking at me with her wide brown eyes.

"What?" she demanded.

"I swear I just saw some of those papers _move_ into a clump shaped like a furious eye…" I said with a grin. Riley smiled and laughed. Her laugh brought a giggle out of me, but also an internal wince.

Though Riley was a lot like me, there were so many things she could do to remind me of her father. And of all the other horrible things and boyfriends I've had in the past. It wasn't her fault, but sometimes where was no stopping it.

Riley hadn't been born by a happy go-lucky couple. No, far from it. She was born while I had still been in high school, to the boyfriend that I'd had at the time, James. It had been an accident, we'd never actually meant to have a kid. Jasper had been furious when I told him, but he hadn't been mad at me. He had been angry with James. My father Charlie soon heard about it, but had been extremely good-natured towards me for a parent who just found out his daughter was a pregnant teen.

Riley had been born nine months later. Of course I loved her right from the start – how could I not when she was so adorable and looked so much like me? Jasper was enchanted with her too, and so was Charlie. James was the only one not pleased. But, despite his dislike towards our daughter, he promised that he would work this out. I thought I had been lucky to have a boyfriend like James. He helped me do my schoolwork, since I couldn't be at school, and I did graduate high school.

Well, I had been wrong. When he went off to college, I had been forced to stay home at the apartment he had gotten for us. Riley was two at the time. It was a year before James and I broke up. I began noticing weird things – James was getting home later than usual, and he brought home less food and more beer. He began having friends over, and they had parties a lot.

It wasn't until six months later that James began getting really bad. He began coming home in the early morning (as in one o' clock in the morning), drunk and screaming at me for giving him the life that he had. It frightened me, but it wasn't like I could just get up and walk out. This was a life that I had, it was the only place I could stay. Charlie had begun a new life too with a new woman named Sue, and Jasper had begun dating Alice back then. So it wasn't like I could leave the life I had.

Then James began coming home earlier. For the first couple of nights I was relieved – he was sober then. That was when I found out that his friends had been out of town. When they came back, he began coming home at the same time, only with empty beer bottles in his hand and a drunken, angry attitude. That was when he began throwing things. Riley had been about to turn three, so she didn't understand. I learned to hide her in her room before seven at night, putting her to bed and tucking her in before James came home to torture me.

Night after night it had gone on, with James yelling and throwing things at me. He screamed about how I had made his life so miserable, and how I gave him a responsibility that a college student shouldn't have. I was scared, how could I not be?

Then there was that night, a few days after Riley's dismal third birthday that it happened.

Riley might have been three, but she wasn't the silly toddler she had been before. She woke up one night to my crying and James's shouting, and had begun sobbing in her crib, screaming, 'Mommy!' I was horrified, because James had heard. Whenever he was in a drunken rage, he forgot about Riley and turned his full attention on me. But hearing her cry like that, I remembered it perfectly.

"_Is that… Is that a _baby_?" James demanded of me, holding the whiskey bottle once again above my head. He smelled of beer and smoke, his hazel eyes ablaze. "Fuck, woman… how much have you screwed up my life?!" He was gone before I could comprehend where he was. I wanted to protect Riley, who was crying in her room. But I couldn't get up – my leg hurt too badly and I was fairly sure that my head was bleeding._

"_What the hell is wrong with this door?" James then shouted. "Did you lock the damn thing?" That was when a huge 'bang' erupted through the entire apartment, and Riley's screams became more pronounced._

"_Get your hands off her!" I screamed, but I could tell from Riley's constant sobbing that James wasn't listening to me._

_He dragged her out of her room. My three-year old baby was crying, her pale cheeks tearstained as her father dragged her out to the living room and threw her down onto the floor beside me. She curled up at my side, sobbing and grabbing hold of my shirt. James scowled as he circled us. Whenever he moved, I moved too – to shelter my baby Riley from whom I now knew as a monster. I wasn't going to let my daughter hurt as much as I hurt right now. My leg protested with every movement I made, and my head was throbbing mercilessly._

"_You bitch," James seethed. "I can't believe you fucking did that – a baby isn't what someone like me should have! I'm too respectable, damn it! What would the guys think if they knew I had a baby? I'd be fucking ruined, you idiot! Ruined!"_

_Riley's sobbing didn't cease. But her shaky voice cried out, "Stop saying bad things about Mommy!"_

_James stopped, and I pulled my daughter close behind me. Riley was a smart child – she knew I was in pain and she knew how to speak her mind. What I hadn't realized until now was that she was very brave. Brave enough to stand up to a drunken man with a sharp object at the age of three._

"_And she even talks back. Give me the little bitch, I'll teach her a thing or two!" James exploded. Instantly his hands went to his back pocket and he pulled out a gun. Where had he gotten that? That question barely processed through my head before panic seized my senses._

Please, if there's a God, let Riley and I live through this… _I thought frantically as my insane boyfriend approached. _

"_You stay away from her," I growled as angrily as I could as Riley sniffled and crawled out from behind me. I snatched her before James could even touch her and held her close to my side. "If you touch her, I swear to God-"_

"_Ha! What God? Do you see a fucking God around here? I certainly don't. God doesn't help the damned, you bitch. Give over the little witch before I shoot a hole in both of your heads!" James shouted, now pointing the gun at my forehead. I froze, but I kept Riley in the circle of my arms. She wasn't losing her life tonight – not an innocent child. Riley cried as I tucked her to my chest._

_And before I could do anything else, James loosed a shot. _

_I ducked, pulling my daughter with me. I was just in time – something shattered behind us and Riley screamed in terror. She was only three. Another shot was loosed and I rolled over to shield Riley from it. _

_I wasn't fast enough. _

_Riley's scream increased ten times in volume, and blood totally splattered all over me. It took me a second to realize that I hadn't been the one that got hit. Riley's shoulder was bleeding uncontrollably, and I could see the bloody bullet about two feet behind us on the carpet. It made me sick, and my stomach twisted as it threatened to regurgitate something I had eaten a few hours ago. Riley's tears mixed in with the blood, and red droplets dripped all over the light beige carpet and me. I panicked, my hands fluttering over the wound. What could I do? Riley was going to lose too much blood if I didn't do something and do something fast. James was laughing manically somewhere behind me. Silently, I damned that bastard to hell for doing something like this to an innocent three-year old child – _my _three-year old child._

_The door banged open. "Police!" someone shouted. A policeman came into the room. His gaze went to us briefly, and identified that we weren't the problem. He turned on James, pointing his pistol at my crazed boyfriend. "Drop the gun!" he growled, and James turned on the policeman._

"_To hell with you!" he shouted in a drunken manner, waving his own gun in the policeman's face. "I'm dealing with my fucking girlfriend and our bastard baby. Come back later."_

_The policeman grabbed the gun out of James's hand and twisted his arm behind his back. James swore as handcuffs were put around his hands. The policeman didn't even state his rights to the drunken man before shouting out "Get the medics in here! We've got a bleeding kid." He turned to me, handing off James to another officer. _

"_You'll pay for this, bitch," James hissed before shoved out the door._

"_Don't worry, miss. We're going to take care of you and your daughter," the policeman reassured me as medics came rushing in. They tried to pull Riley from my arms, but I clung to her. _

"_Don't take my baby away," I murmured pathetically. _

"_Don't worry," the officer repeated as I gave Riley to the medics. Instantly they strapped her to a stretcher. Riley cried and reached for me, and I took her hand as one of the medics helped me to my feet. I hissed when my leg protested, and the medics told the officer I had a broken leg. The officer swore and told the medics something, but my eyes were on my daughter. I panicked for her survival, but I knew we were safe now. It made me feel extremely reassured._

"Mom! You okay?" Riley was looking at me, appearing concerned.

I snapped out of my reverie and looked at her in surprise. I had been swept away by memories again. Riley's shoulder still had that scar – despite everything the doctor's had tried, the scar tissue never healed correctly and so she had a forever red, purple, and black shoulder that she kept hidden all the time. The only people who had ever seen it had been Alice, Jasper, and myself.

"I'm… I'm fine," I murmured, knowing that she would see through that specific little lie. Riley was very perceptive, like I could be sometimes. She looked anxious as she put her hand over mine and seemed to forget about the half-filled out bill underneath her arms.

"Mom… did you have a day-mare?" Riley asked me.

Day-mares were what we called having a nightmare during the day. Both of us had them – Riley had them so much more often than I did. But whenever I did, Riley was there. We never told anyone about these – not even my brother Jasper or his pixie fiancé, Alice. Neither of them needed to know how much our memories still haunted us. Jasper was too overprotective of us still, and would practically keep us under his watch twenty-four seven if he knew that we had these day-mares. Normally we only had these when we were at home, alone. Once I had even come home from grocery shopping to find Riley curled up in a tiny ball in the couch, crying.

"Yeah," I confessed. How could I lie to my daughter? I never had in my life, and I wouldn't start now whenever we were discussing something serious like this.

Riley's chocolate brown eyes clouded over in anxiety. I knew she didn't like it when I thought of our bad past – she was too selfless like I was to really ignore someone else in pain. Especially when that person was in their family. But that just made me feel worse.

Because, when I thought about it, I was the reason for everything Riley was hurt over. Because of the bad choices I had made involving men and their testosterone-filled bodies, Riley had been hurt on a number of occasions. She always told me that I shouldn't blame myself, but how could I not? The nasty scar on her shoulder was my fault, as were the cuts on her back and her messed up arm (one of my other previous boyfriends had broken it and it had never healed properly, so it was forever crooked… people asked about it a lot).

"Mom…" Riley began saying, when someone knocked on our door.

I shot out of my seat, not wanting to talk about this anymore. I shot her a warning glance before heading off to answer the door. I went to the entryway and opened it up, looking out to see Alice and Jasper standing on our small front porch.

Jasper was tall and leonine, almost two feet taller than his petite fiancé. His wild blonde hair was nothing like my tame brown, but our eyes were the same shade of chocolate brown. His smile was gentle as he took me in – he was one of the nicest brothers on the face of the planet. Alice was at his side, her arm linked through his as she smiled at me. Her eyes were a sharp emerald green, and her hair was sticking out in every direction and was ebony black.

"Hey, Bells," Jasper greeted me. Suddenly Riley was at my side, and she flung her arms around her uncle and soon-to-be aunt. "Hello, Riley."

"Turned out that Emmett already had the lighting plans done before you called. So we set out straight away," Alice chirped as we hugged each other (I had to stoop down a little in order for our embrace to be comfortable). "Jazz thought you might want to go out somewhere at Navy Pier."

Riley's face brightened. She loved Navy Pier – it was one of her favorite places to go in Chicago. Jasper knew that, as did Alice. They took her there themselves every so often, just for lunch or maybe just to buy something. Riley liked looking at all of the tourists. She said that it was the best place to meet new people from all over the world. She also loved going on the Ferris wheel there, or hanging out at the picnic tables.

It seemed as though a picnic would be out of order today, though. The wind was fierce and the sky was cloudy, and it looked like it was going to rain any second. Jasper was wearing a windbreaker, and Alice was wearing something that looked like the equivalent to a winter coat.

"You'll need a coat," Jasper informed us, noticing my observations.

I grabbed two off the hook by the door – one for me, one for Riley. I handed her hers and she slipped it on with ease, her eyes flickering from me to Jasper to Alice. I didn't miss how whenever she looked at me, an expression of worry would flash across her face before she looked away again towards someone else. Jasper, thankfully, didn't see that and smiled as he led us out to his car.

The drive to Navy Pier was spent in quiet. Riley and I sat in the backseat of Jasper's blue Saturn, and Alice was seated in the passenger seat. Their hands were linked – which worried me, considering as Jasper was driving. But from past experience, I knew that Jazz was a good driver and he wouldn't let us all crash. It wasn't going to happen.

When we parked, I noted that it would be a bit of a walk to Navy Pier, considering, as the closest parking lot was still a block away from the place. We all got out of the car, and Jasper walked behind all of us as Alice attempted (more like started, because it was so hard to resist talking to Jasper's tiny fiancé).

"Riley, did you finish your homework?" Alice asked, attempting to sound professional. Like everything else she did, she pulled it off.

Riley nodded. "I finished. Thanks for the help, by the way. As soon as I remembered what to do, it was done in about five minutes."

Alice smiled proudly, and gave me a fleeting glance. "Great, Riley," she praised my daughter cheerfully. "That's good to hear. You know that you're very close to graduating tenth grade already. I'll have to send you the final exams next week and send them in to the city for them to be graded and approved. You have no idea how quickly you've progressed." Riley grinned in response to that – she liked being praised by her loving aunt. Especially when it was about schoolwork.

Jasper grinned at me, as if I had been the one to accomplish this feat. "You should be proud," he told me, his voice gravelly and soothing like it always was. "Riley's extremely smart for her age."

"I know, I am proud of her. More proud than I think she'll ever know," I answered. Riley looked at me with her bright brown eyes, and gave me a swift hug. She loved being praised, and the praise that came from me was the praise she always kept close to her heart. It was shocking for many mothers to see how close my daughter and I were. The only thing I could answer them with was what I was extremely blessed to have my daughter. As she commonly said that she was blessed to have me as a mother, though I hardly believed her. After all of the trouble I had gotten her into, and after all the scars that were put on her body, I was the one who was lucky to have her.

That was when I saw Riley and Alice exchange a happy glance. I narrowed my eyes, but only a little. Riley didn't notice this time. They were hiding something from me, the pair of them. But I pretended to be clueless when Alice then said,

"Well, I can't wait until Edward comes tomorrow. He's going to be a great director for _Anastasia_, I know it," Alice chattered joyfully. "I can't wait for Riley and you to meet him. He really does have a good heart, deep down inside. You're going to love him."

Riley and I exchanged a look. Riley looked happy about this, excited even, to meet her new uncle. I, on the other hand, was extremely nervous and a little fearful of meeting this new director. I didn't know why, but I was going to meet him tomorrow, one way or the other. I suppose I just had to leave it to fate to decide whether or not I would like him.

EOC: That's the end of the first chapter. I'm really proud of it, because it's definitely a lot longer than my chapters normally are. The next chapter is Bella and Riley meeting Edward. I hope you all enjoyed this, and the next chapter will be coming along soon. Please review, because I'd like to know if you liked it or not. And I know it's not mentioned in the chapter, but here's what everyone is at the theatre they all work at:

Bella – Assistant Director

Alice – Head Costume Designer

Jasper – Lighting Designer

Emmett – Stage Crew

Rosalie – Actress

Riley – It's a surprise for you and for Bella. XD

Edward – Soon-to-be Director (maybe permanent, but I won't tell you guys because I'm evil like James)

Of, and if you're confused about the whole police thing in the flashback, that's explained in the next chapter. I know it's unrealistic that the police show up right when things get thorny, but there's a reason. Please don't think I'm insane!

Thanks, and until next time… - Dark and Wild


	2. Chapter 2

Wow, I got a better response to this story than I thought I was going to have! Already about six people have put this story on their alerts or favorites list. I think I've fallen in love with this story and the plotline anyway, because nonstop every day I'm thinking about this thing. It's really scary, actually. I have a whole plan for this entire story already, and I'm happy because I've realized that there are a whole bunch of things I could do with it to make it long and interesting for you guys. It makes me happy, as I've already said once or twice. XD

Anyway, I'd like to make another disclaimer that Stephenie Meyer's characters are **not** my own. You know who those characters are, because I really don't want to list them all out. Thanks, and here's the second chapter of _Three Wrongs Make A Right_. Oh, and in this chapter, there will be two parts. One section from Bella, one section from Riley. A lot of these first few chapters are going to be informative about their past. There are a lot of flashbacks. =]

X-x-X

**Chapter 2: A Meeting Like No Other**

_Bella_

It was a dream. I knew that, but that didn't stop it from continuing.

_I sat at Riley's bedside, my eyes wide as I watched my brave little three-year old daughter struggle for survival. Her breathing was uneven and shallow, and her entire arm was wrapped in bandages. Her face had been cleaned, but it still bore marks of fear and uncertainty. Her eyes were closed, and I longed for them to open again._

_Which the doctors had told me might not happen._

_After James had been driven away in a police cruiser, the medics rushed me and Riley to the hospital. The policeman, who had introduced himself as Officer Embry Call, had been extremely informative. Though my attention was almost entirely on Riley and the medics surrounding her, I heard what the kind officer was explaining and listened with only vague interest. I completely ignored the medics attending to me and my broken leg._

"_We received a call from one of your neighbors, Miss Jessica Stanley. She's a college student at the university, who confessed over the phone that she'd been hearing things from your apartment for some time. She said tonight was different, because she heard screaming instead of just crashes. We said that we'd investigate, and so we did. We asked Miss Stanley to stay on the phone in case something else happened…"_

_I phased back to the hospital room. My leg still throbbed horribly, and it was wrapped in a plaster cast. The top of my head was bandaged – apparently James had hit me pretty hard with his beer bottle. But that still didn't compare to Riley's condition._

_Riley had lost a lot of blood – too much blood for a three-year old like her to lose. The doctors said that her brain was also permanently traumatized from what she had seen and heard that night. Her heartbeat was weak because of the blood loss. And just a few minutes ago, the doctors had told me that there was a chance that it wasn't strong enough to wake her back up. That I would never see her chocolate brown eyes flicker open again. That I would never hear her tinkling laugh again. That she wouldn't ever turn four. Because there was a chance that Riley was going to die._

"_Miss Swan, there's some people here to see you," the nurse kindly told me from the doorway. Before she could say anything more, my brother was standing in the doorway, Alice at his side. I turned my head to see them both, my eyes vague and dead._

"_Bella," Jasper said, his voice thick with relief. _

_I slowly rose from my chair, feeling like a ghost. Jasper closed the distance between us in seconds, giving me a tight hug. I melted into his embrace, beginning to cry. I heard Alice say something to the nurse, and the nurse dipped her head and closed the door to our ward. Jasper kept me tightly in his arms, murmuring comforting things in my ear. Alice joined our hug, wrapping her tiny arms as far around us as she could. _

"_Officer Embry called us," Jasper murmured into my hair as I sobbed onto his shoulder. "He told me Riley had been shot. Oh, God, Bella. I'm so sorry."_

"_Don't t-talk like that," I blabbered out between sobs. "R-Riley might live. She isn't d-dead. Not y-yet."_

"_Of course she isn't," Alice cooed, patting my back. I couldn't see her, but I knew that she was looking at me with sympathetic green eyes. Though she and Jasper had not been going out for very long, Alice was already a part of the family. "She's a strong young girl. She'll pull through, Bella. Riley will live."_

_I wanted so badly to believe her._

_Jasper sighed, kissing the top of my head the way he always used to when we were younger. "Bells, it's going to be okay. James is going to jail for what he did. He'll never hurt you or Riley ever again. I'll make sure of it, I promise. And Riley isn't going to die. She's going to be okay too." He released me and looked to the three-year old lying on the hospital bed, and he bit his lip. I could tell that he too was having trouble picturing Riley never opening her eyes again. He had loved her right from the start too. Alice took his hand, and I felt a pang of jealousy. They at least had each other. The only person I had was dying on the hospital bed beside me. I couldn't believe this._

"Mom? Mom!" Someone was calling me. It sounded so much like Riley.

_Riley. Her chocolate brown eyes flickered open, and the tiny three-year old weakly reached for my hand. Jasper's head snapped up, and he stared at the awakening Riley with amazement. Alice smiled, taking his hand again._

"_Mommy?" came the little voice I had been longing to hear for the past twelve hours. _

"Mom! Wake up!"

I jerked awake, the dream ending as quickly as it had begun. I was in my bed, the sheets tangled around me. Riley was crouched over me, her eyes that were the exact same as they had been twelve years ago looking worried and anxious. As soon as my eyes met hers, she let out a sigh of relief.

"Geez, Mom," Riley said with a rolling of her eyes. "You were shouting enough to wake up the entire neighborhood. Tone it down a little next time, will you?" She backed away from me, hopping off my bed. "It's almost eight. We have to be at the theatre at nine today. And we're going to meet Uncle Edward too!" Oh, she looked so excited. It was infectious. I grinned as I stood, pulling the covers away from me.

I followed Riley in her blue polar bear pajamas that I had bought for her last Christmas all the way downstairs to the kitchen, where it looked like she already had breakfast made. A plate of eggs and bacon awaited me at the table, and Riley's looked like they were already half-finished. I sat down, watching my daughter suspiciously as she sat down across from me.

"What?" she asked, seeing my expression.

"What's with all the pre-cooked breakfast and the waking me up at eight?" I asked. Normally Riley would wake me up around seven, because she knew I liked being early to work. She was almost always up at seven herself, unless I woke up before she did and had to wake her.

"Actually, I slept in this morning," Riley replied bashfully, her face turning a faint pink in embarrassment. "You didn't come wake me up, and I'd figured that you'd be grumpy when I did wake you up, so I made breakfast. I was about to come up and get before I heard you shouting and groaning in your sleep." She fixed me in a look that was rather protective – it was a look that I probably should have been giving her instead. Sometimes I felt like we switched roles. "What kind of nightmares were you having? More about… well, about whatever?" She hated mentioning James or any of my other past boyfriends aloud.

"Yes," I answered back truthfully, after I had swallowed a bite of the eggs. Riley was a good cook – almost as good as me. "It was about you, after that… well, after that night with James. How the doctors were telling me that you wouldn't wake up."

Riley's eyes softened again as she set down her cup of chocolate milk. "Well, I'm here now. I woke up."

"Yes, you did," I agreed, thankful for that turn of fate. Without Riley, I probably wouldn't be where I was right now. "I'd better hurry up with this breakfast if we plan on getting to work on time. Go get dressed while I finish up. Don't worry about the dishes. I can do them when we get home."

Without a word, Riley scrambled away from the table and up the stairs to her bedroom. I practically gulped down the rest of my eggs and tossed the rest of Riley's breakfast into the trash can, except for the two strips of bacon. Riley loved bacon, and she loved eating in the car. Nibbling on things helped her to relax, and I knew she was extremely excited about meeting this new Uncle Edward of hers. Like her Aunt Alice, sometimes my daughter got excited over the silliest of things. This wasn't really even that big of an occasion – who knew if this Edward would stay this time or not?

As I went up the stairs to my room, I passed Riley's room. The door was halfway open, so I caught a glimpse of my daughter in her room fully dressed already, pulling on a pair of her favorite sneakers.

Riley's room hadn't changed since we bought this place about nine years ago. Riley had been six, and had spent the majority of her life living between her Aunt Alice and Uncle Jasper's houses. Though now of course the engaged couple lived together, but back then Riley and I moved between place to place because we had no place of our own.

It still had the little maple work desk in the corner, which was covered in Riley's drawings. My daughter was a talented artist – something she had inherited from her father. The carpet was a fluffy white, the walls were a comforting sky blue. Even at night, this room was like a safe haven – it was so peaceful. Riley's bed was in one of the corners, the nightstand just beneath the window looking out onto the suburban street. We lived in the outskirts of Chicago, in a small neighborhood that we shared with Jasper, Alice, Emmett, and Rosalie. We all liked living close to one another.

My room was just across from hers. I went in, closing the door behind me. My room was a bit different. Though the carpet was still the same sheep-wool white, my walls had been painted a deep blood red – and the entire room was themed after my walls. My rather large bed took up most of the room – it was on the wall opposite to me when I walked in. To my left was a large dresser Jasper had gotten me a while back. And to my right was the entrance to the mater bathroom of the house. Next to that door was the door to my small walk-in closet that had been installed last year from the courtesy of Alice.

I went to my dresser to pull out a folded pair of denim jeans and a hyacinth blue shirt that Alice had once complimented looked nice with my alabaster-like skin. I put both on in a hurry, glancing at my clock to tell me that it was 8:20. As soon as I had changed, I grabbed my purse off of my nightstand, searched through to make sure I had everything I would need, and rushed out the door to meet Riley.

She was dressed in a pair of khakis, with a deep red sweater that I thought looked really nice with her hair – which was sloppily pinned up in a ponytail. I'd have to fix it when we got to the theatre. But right now, we were going to be late. It took about twenty minutes to drive to the theatre, but I liked being early in order to make sure everything was set up.

Today, however, it was the day before auditions. There wouldn't be much to do except for make sure that our already hired singers would make it on time on their flights, and to update contracts with the lighting and stage crew. Jasper and Alice normally helped me out with that, so I bet that my daughter and I would be free around lunchtime. Which, I bet Alice had already planned to be a catch-up session with her long lost brother – and she probably expected us to come along. Well, sometimes she could be an unstoppable force of nature.

Riley and I together rushed down the stairs and grabbed out coats. I saw that Riley had her typical back-pack in hand – full of things for her to do while I worked. Most of the time Alice gave her homework assignments to do. But today, I bet that Riley wouldn't have anything to do. Alice would be too caught up with Edward to really think about tutoring Riley today. And without even looking at my daughter, I knew that she'd be extremely happy with that news. Nothing bored her more quickly than a load of schoolwork. Something else she had inherited from her father. But I never told her where she got that quirk.

We shot out the door like an automated machine working in sync. I unlocked my red pickup truck (a present from Charlie before I had left James, and it still ran amazingly), and opened up my door. Riley opened up hers and hopped in, buckling herself up before I even had a chance to close my own door. She smiled at me and nestled herself into the car's leather padded seating.

The drive to the theatre was slow, like always. There was traffic on the freeway, of course, so that delayed our trip by about ten minutes. By the time I pulled into my normal parking spot, it was 8:55. I winced. Now there wouldn't be a whole lot of time to meet Edward. It surprised me to find that I was actually incredibly anxious to meet him, even though I knew he had left his siblings here in Chicago for rather selfish reasons. I could tell that Riley was irritated with the cut time that we had too – the scrunched up look between her eyebrows told me that much.

We got out of the car, looking around the parking lot.

Jasper was already here – his blue Saturn sat still in its normal parking spot beside mine. I could also see that Rosalie was already here too. Her flashy red Mustang convertible was easy to spot across the parking lot. Emmett's rather large Jeep was also here. I huffed, irritated with myself. I was the last one to arrive today. Figures.

"C'mon, Mom!" Riley said, tugging on my arm. She reminded me of the way she used to act when she was younger. Her eyes were wide with excitement.

She really was acting as if she were five again.

"_Mommy, let's go!" Little Riley shouted. Alice had curled her brown hair for her birthday, and the curls were bouncing around her pale, but delighted face as she tugged on my hand. "Aunt Alice and Uncle Jasper are already here!" I smiled and let me lead her forward. _

Riley and I went to the theatre side entrance – the staff entrance made for people like me and my daughter. Waiting for us at the door was Jasper and Emmett. It looked like they were having a conversation, but they stopped as soon as they saw me. Jasper smiled smoothly like he always did, and Emmett waved casually.

"Hey! How are my favorite girls?" Emmett asked as Riley and I passed.

"Rosalie is your favorite girl, Uncle Emmett," Riley protested with a giggle. Emmett could be a bit of a charmer, and he almost always charmed Riley. "You can't be going around saying things like that."

Emmett winked again. "True that, Riley," he remarked with one of his booming laughs. "Don't tell Rose I said that. Don't want to be punished in bed tonight. She does that a lot. But it makes her so damn-"

"Emmett!" I warned him, fixing him in a threatening glare. I didn't want my daughter hearing those kinds of words _or _implications. Though we'd had the Talk, Riley and I still hadn't discussed anything about 'kinky' sex. And in my opinion, she still didn't need to hear about it. Jasper too looked like he disapproved of Emmett's wording, and he ran his fingers through his wild hair.

"Is Edward already here?" I asked, raising my eyebrow and pretending that Emmett had never said anything in the first place. Riley looked confused, and I intended to keep it that way.

Jasper shook his head. "Alice went to pick him up at the airport. They won't be here for another half-hour or so," he remarked. Whenever he spoke of Alice, I always caught the reverence he said her name with. I was glad they had each other, because without Alice, Jasper probably wouldn't be who he was today. They were so madly in love, and the wedding was going to be sometime next summer. I couldn't wait personally, since I would be Alice's maid of honor. Riley was going to be the ring-bearer (though that position was typically meant for a boy half her age). But Jasper had insisted on his niece being on his side of the altar.

Riley's face seemed to fall with this news, however. She looked like she had really wanted to meet him now. "What are we going to do until then?" she asked, downtrodden.

I laughed at her tone and gave her a swift hug around the shoulders. "Well, you can follow your Uncle Jasper around backstage, if you want. I have nothing for you to do, unless you want to mess around with the things you brought," I told her with a smile.

Riley sighed, and handed me her coat and her things. "Sure," she said. "Since it looks like Uncle Edward won't be here for a while."

X-x-X

_Riley_

It wasn't like following my Uncle Jasper around wasn't fun it was just… I wanted to meet Edward _now_. From everything Alice told me, he was a really nice guy who just was wayward when he was younger and went off to live his own life. I recalled the conversation I'd had with my aunt about him very clearly.

"_Sometimes your mother reminds me of my brother Edward," Aunt Alice sighed as I helped her fold an old costume up for storage keeping. _

_I handed her the dress I had been folding and blinked, confused. "Edward?" I asked. "You have a brother named Edward?"_

"_Mm," Alice replied, looking suddenly preoccupied as her hands fluttered around the dress I had given her. "I guess your mother didn't tell you about him. I doubted she would, what with… well…" Her eyes flickered to my messed up arm – the one Jacob had broken a few months ago. It was still wrapped up in a cast, but whatever the doctors tried to do, my mother and I knew that it wasn't going to heal right. Jacob had shattered the bone in too many places. Alice pretended like she'd never looked at it and continued. "You have another uncle. His name is Edward."_

"_Tell me about him," I prompted. I loved hearing stories from Alice – she was so good at telling them sometimes. She told all kinds of stories. So I guess it was kind of a natural reaction to want to hear about her brother. _

_Alice stared off into space for a moment, as if she were trying to remember something. "Well, he was born here like me and Emmett. He was two when I was born. Emmett was four. He was always nice to me, unlike Emmett. Once, when I was two, Emmett pushed me down the stairs to see if toddlers were as tough as he was. Edward caught me halfway down and yelled at Emmett for doing something so stupid. I'll never forget that._

"_He has a good heart, but sometimes his mind can get in the way. When he was seventeen…" I flinched. I had been born when my mother was seventeen. "Edward wanted to go somewhere. He didn't want to stay in Chicago like the rest of us wanted. He wanted to be famous._

"_So as soon as Edward graduated high school, he told my parents that he was leaving. When Emmett and I tried to convince him to stay, well… Edward said some rude things to get us to let him go. I wished he hadn't have said some of those things, but you can't change the past. So he left. But he called me a while back to apologize. Of course he was forgiven. I mean, how can I hold a grudge against my family? That would have made me a horrible person. And I knew Edward's heart was in the right place when he left. He's a very good person, Riley."_

I wanted to meet Edward so badly, and Uncle Jasper seemed to sense it as he led Emmett and me backstage to his booth. There were plans spread all over it, and I wondered how long he had been here.

"He'll be here soon, Riley," Jasper told me reassuringly. "The world isn't going to end in five minutes, so just relax." His voice was really soothing, so of course I believed him and I relaxed. Uncle Jasper was the best person I knew at calming someone. And he was almost always right anyway. So I followed him over to his booth and stood with him as he and Emmett began discussing things again.

"So tell me again what the scheme needs to be," Jasper muttered. "I didn't hear all of it with Bella coming in and all that."

"Well, for the first scene change, you need a bit of the lights on," Emmett was telling him now in a business-like tone. I loved listening to them speak about theatre. In fact, I loved theatre in general. "'Cause we can't run over whoever's playing Anastasia, and she's going to be laying right in the middle of the damn stage. Second scene change is normal, and third and fourth scene changes are done in half-light. Fifth is just switching the roll-around, so no lighting changes… I think that's about it."

"And what's the coloring scheme?" Jasper asked, jotting this down onto the plans with a mechanical pencil. I watched him in fascination – I loved watching him work. He was so serious sometimes.

"Well, for the most part it's plain old lights," Emmett answered with a shrug. "I haven't gotten any specifics yet, because the director isn't here to make those decisions."

"Who's the director for this production, anyway?" I then asked curiously. It was then that I realized that my mother and I had absolutely no idea who this person was. My mom was someone who liked knowing what was going on, considering as she had been assistant director for a few years and liked having solid information under her feet.

Emmett and Jasper exchanged glances, and I frowned. "What?" I asked them, feeling a secret coming on. I loved secrets, even if I kept none of them from my mom. Except for one. "What is it? Who's the director?"

Jasper sighed in exasperation, running his fingers through his hair again. "Well… since I suppose you'll go running to your mother as soon as I tell you this… ugh, alright. Alice told me not to tell you, but who cares? Alright, Alice's brother, Edward, is supposed to be the director for this production. Alice wanted to keep it a secret, for reasons unknown. Go run off to tell your mother now, I guess. Alice is going to kill me."

"If she can get those tiny hands of hers around your neck," Emmett snickered.

"Dude, that isn't cool that you're insulting my fiancé," Jasper snapped in reply.

"'Dude'? What are we? In like, fucking high school?" Emmett retorted.

I laughed – sometimes my uncles could be complete and utter lunatics. That was probably a reason that I loved them so much. Uncle Jasper was about to respond to that comment when I touched his arm lightly. "I won't tell my mom until I see her, if it makes you feel any better," I assured him. "Which probably won't be until Edward arrives anyway. I'm following you around instead. You get to put up with me for another fifteen minutes until-"

"Jazzy?"

That was the voice of my Aunt Alice. I turned my head, and jumped to see that she wasn't alone.

A tall man stood beside her, looking slightly out of place in his designer jeans and nice red button-up shirt. His skin was pale, like my mom's and mine, and I could tell that there was muscle underneath it. It wasn't obvious like Uncle Emmett's muscles were, but I could tell they were there. His hair was bronze-colored and a little messy as if he had just gotten out of bed. And his eyes were a sparkling, emerald green. In other words, he was the most beautiful middle-aged man I had ever met in my life. He smiled at Jasper, Emmett, and me. Alice had a tight hold on his hand, and she was a good foot shorter than he was.

"Jazz, Em. You know Edward," Alice chirped.

Emmett looked at his younger brother with disdain for a moment, obviously observing Edward's choice of wear, before he smiled tightly. "Hey, Ed. It's been a while," he greeted him, not coming forward like Jasper did.

Jasper came forward and shook Edward's hand with a smoother and more natural smile. "It has been a while. Welcome back, Edward," he said politely.

"It most certainly has." His voice was like the smoothest of velvet, and I found it much more calming than Jasper's ever had been. Which was definitely saying something, since my uncle could practically calm anyone in any situation. I stared at him. He caught me looking, and I looked down at my feet, embarrassed. "And I suppose that you're Riley?"

I nodded shyly. Man, I had been so excited to meet him, and now I was shutting up like a clam. What was wrong with me? "Yeah. That's me," I said with a timid smile up at him. His returning smile was dazzling.

"Then allow me to introduce myself formally, though I'm sure Alice has already doted about me on more than one occasion." He sent a playful glance at Alice, who giggled and shrugged as if it wasn't her fault. "I'm Edward Cullen, the middle child of the Cullen family, son of Carlisle and Esme Cullen, and soon to be the director of _Anastasia_." He bowed like a gentleman, and I laughed. I made a tiny curtsy, which was kind of odd for a girl wearing pants. But I suddenly wasn't scared of him anymore.

"Well, then I want to introduce myself too. My name is Riley Swan, um… the _only _child in the Swan family, er, daughter of Isabella Swan and um… well… and I don't have a job," I announced, wincing a little at the end when I realized I had been about to spill my father's name yet again to a stranger. I didn't like talking about my family, unless it was my mother.

Edward seemed to catch my mistake and eyed me thoughtfully for a moment before deciding to let it go. He grinned around at all of us, as if he suddenly felt at home. "And so where is this Isabella Swan that I've heard so much about – I ought to meet my assistant director as soon as I can."

"She happens to be standing right behind you," came my mother's voice.

We all turned to find my mom walking towards us, a clipboard in her hands that I assumed was probably a bunch of contracts. She fixed Aunt Alice in one of her stern looks and gazed around at all of us. Her eyes stopped on Edward, and something flickered in them that I'd never seen before. "I don't think I was ever told that you were going to be my director," she said with a small, unsure smile. I'd never seen her smile like that.

Edward glanced at Alice, as if that explained everything. Alice giggled again. "Well, then I suppose the fault falls to my sister and all who were in on it." Jasper and Emmett both let out laughs at this, as Edward continued. "I'm Edward Cullen." He turned to smile at my mother in the same way she had smiled at him. Something sparked in my head as I grinned slightly to myself. There was something between them already. I couldn't put my finger on it just yet, but I could feel something coming on. I wasn't sure what it was yet, but I was going to figure it out and make whatever it was happen. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that Aunt Alice and Uncle Jasper had made that same exact connection.

"I think I heard that from all of the formal introductions," Mom chuckled, and her gaze went to me for a second. She smiled warmly, and I smiled back, going to her side instantly.

Edward observed us for a moment before the smile returned. "I can see that I've stumbling onto some close families," he chuckled. "Does Chicago do this to everyone that lives here? Maybe it was a good thing that I left to escape all of this sappy matter."

Emmett laughed now. "Yeah well, we're gonna suck you right back in to this sappy matter, little bro," he cackled. Edward chuckled, happy that Emmett had seemed to have gotten over his previous aversion (whatever it was).

"Besides, I already feel some of this sappy matter coming on!" Alice giggled, and I think I was the only one to catch the double meaning behind those words. Perhaps my mother would have heard it too, except Alice had wrapped her tiny arms around her brother's waist to show what she foremost meant. Mom smiled again and wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

"Hey," she told me. Everyone turned to look at us. "It looks like Angela's going to take over for me today, so how about a nice lunch break so we can all get to know each other? Rose can come too." She added the last bit when Emmett opened his mouth to protest. Angela was one of my mom's really good friends here, and sometimes she stepped in to help my mom when she asked. "You go get her. I'll take Riley to get her things."

As she began pulling me towards her office, my glance went to Edward. He grinned.

* * *

EOC: This chapter was a bit shorter, but you guys forgive me, right? XD I'm actually pretty proud of how I wrote Edward. You guys would let me know if it was horrible, right? I tried to bring how he uses big words in the books into my FanFic. And Riley's section probably wasn't the best – I was so used to writing Bella's POV. Next chapter, there might be something from Edward's point of view, but tell me what you guys think.

So, I have two other things to say. 1) I don't really know if Anastasia is actually a musical theatre production, but if it isn't, I like it anyway. 2) Some of you might be wondering what Riley was talking about when she was talking about secrets and said "Except for one". Well, that'll be revealed next chapter. 'Til next time! Please review and tell me how I did. – Dark and Wild


	3. Chapter 3

Wee! A new chapter, all ready for you guys. This one was fun to write, and I liked it a lot when I finished. I'd like to once more disclaim Stephenie Meyer's characters, but I take credit for Riley and the plot. There's a bit less past in here, and more present. Mainly because of Edward, of course – everything's for Edward. XD Alright, I'd like to give special thanks to _jadesabre75_, for sticking with me and reviewing for both chapters. This chapter is for you. =] Oh, and I've decided to start having chapter songs. I've seen so many authors put them up, even though most of the songs I've never heard of before. XD Mainly because I'm a freak… I don't know.

So, Featured Song: _Fooling Yourself_, By: Styx (Hey, I listen to old-fashioned stuff. This is from the 70s.)

And, since I don't feel like editing the other chapters right now, here are the songs for them…

Chapter 1: _I Have A Dream_, By: Abba (Not much to actually do with chapter, but I listened to it a lot.)

Chapter 2: _Coming Around Again_, By: Carly Simon (Just kind of has to do with Bella's inner hope of a good relationship some day.)

X-x-X

**Chapter 3: A Game of Ketchup**

_Bella_

Well, Alice's idea of lunch was going to a fancy restaurant right smack-dab in the middle of downtown Chicago. So my pickup truck looked so out of place amongst all of the fancy cars and fancy people. I winced when I noticed that Riley and I were totally underdressed. Then again, the only fancy wear either of us owned was at home stuffed unceremoniously in the back of our closets. Neither of us were big fans of dresses or party-wear.

"We're going _here_?' Riley asked me in surprise, raising her eyebrows in my direction.

I shrugged nonchalantly. "It was Aunt Alice's choice, honey, not mine," I told her. Riley sighed, and shook her head. She ran her fingers through her hair swiftly as if she were combing her hair.

"Why didn't she tell us we would be going to this fancy place?" she asked frantically. "I look like a mess."

I chuckled and gave her a hug around the shoulders as I unbuckled myself. "You look beautiful, hon. Don't worry about it," I told her reassuringly as I got out of the car. She followed my lead and we went to join Alice, Jasper, Emmett, Rosalie, and Edward.

Rosalie was one of our more beautiful actresses. Her blonde hair right now was pulled back into an elegant ponytail that revealed her sapphire blue eyes and brought out her evenly tanned skin. She smiled when she saw us, dressed up in her black satin-like pants and a red halter-top.

But she was nothing compared to Alice's beautiful brother Edward.

Though I normally stared at Rosalie in all her beauty, my gaze went to Edward this time. He was observing me in the same way, which made me blush slightly. I pulled Riley close and kissed the back of her hair to hide it. He didn't notice, so he just smiled dazzlingly at me. Little did he know that he was only making it worse.

Riley was confused by my actions – I normally didn't show these signs of affection to her in public. I only grinned and released her, pushing her away playfully. She winked at me, understanding something that I didn't think she could understand at the age of fifteen. Alice must have been teaching her the wrong things. It was either that or there were splotches of red across my face. But from the amused looks on Jasper _and_ Alice's faces, it was probably the fact that I was red in the face. Wonderful – I was making myself look like an idiot.

"Why didn't you tell me that we were coming here?" I asked of Alice as we approached them on the sidewalk.

Alice shrugged. "It was a last minute decision. I forgot you were wearing jeans. Sorry." Her expression twisted into one of apology, and I shrugged as if it were no big deal.

"I'll be fine."

Alice took that as a reassurance and let out a sigh of relief. She smiled at me and, taking Jasper's hand, went into the restaurant. Riley and I followed with Emmett and Rosalie – Edward taking up the rear.

The restaurant was pretty much empty, probably because most of the normal customers here were still at work at their major corporations. The hostess raised her eyebrows as we came in. Mostly her eyes were on my jeans. At least I had chosen to wear my designers today; that had to count for something. She took our party number and had us sit for about five minutes so they could put a few tables together to seat all of us. I didn't mind the wait.

But Riley's stomach growling beside told me that she hadn't eaten much breakfast.

When the hostess returned, she escorted us to a group of three tables that had been put together. We all sat down as she passed out the menus, and I took mine and flipped it open. My eyes bugged out at the sight of these prices. There were no meals underneath ten dollars. Who did Alice think we were? Riley and I didn't make enough money to even dine like this for a day straight.

Alice seemed to catch on and looked at me worriedly. She was beginning to regret her decision in coming here, and then I began to feel bad for giving her a hard time. She was just trying to welcome back Edward as best as she could. So, I put on a fake smile as the hostess said,

"Your waiter will be out in a minute."

As soon a she had walked away, Riley, who was of course sitting next to me, leaned over and whispered, "Mom, how are we supposed to afford this? These prices are totally insane."

"I know, baby, I know," I whispered back.

Edward turned his head to look at us – he was seated on my other side across from Alice. He gazed at us curiously, as if he had never seen a mother and her child on good terms before. But there was something else behind that look that told me that he had heard what Riley had just said… and like he was going to do something about it.

At that moment, a middle-aged man came by our table. "Hey, I'm Eric, and I'll be your server today. What can I get you to drink?"

The consecutive order around the table was either Diet Coke or Mr. Pibb (Emmett was the one who order that drink, and Edward playfully followed suit). When the orders came to me, I said,

"Water."

Riley looked at me briefly before ordering the same thing.

"Alright… so have you decided on what you're going to order?" Eric then asked us.

Nobody was ready. Jasper told this to the server and Eric smiled, telling us that our drinks would be right out. Everyone began looking through their menus for something to order, so I turned to Riley and began conferring as to what the cheapest things on the menu are. The only cheap things were gross looking chicken dishes. Riley wrinkled her nose at me when I suggested it.

"I couldn't really help but overhear," a silky smooth voice from behind me said. I turned my head to find myself staring at Edward. He smiled slightly. "If you two don't mind, I can cover the bill for both of you. I don't wish for you two to get food poisoning all because you want to save money."

"We can handle ourselves," I replied smoothly. I didn't want him thinking we were some beggars who were entirely dependent on other people. Edward frowned.

"I bet you can, but at least allow me to pay for this," he insisted. "It's the least I can do for my new assistant and her daughter."

It was hard to argue with a god. "Er… fine," I said, giving in with poor grace. Riley looked so much more relieved that she didn't have to get the disgusting looking chicken a la carte. So she began searching the menu with new enthusiasm, and I looked at Edward again. "Thank you," I added softly. Edward grinned and dipped his head.

Alice seemed to miss our exchange, and smiled at us from down the table. Jasper was sitting beside her, with an arm around her shoulders as he observed his menu. Emmett was sitting across from Riley, and Rosalie sat at the head of the table. I saw that their hands were connected underneath the corner of our table. I smiled to myself, glad that they were so happy together. I also didn't miss the sappy glances they sent each other and suddenly their moment seemed to private that I had to look away.

"Are you ready to order?" Eric was back, with a tray full of beverages. He passed them around and Riley began sipping on hers as soon as she got it. She always did that, and I didn't know where she got it.

"I'll have the spaghetti marinara," Riley piped up before anyone else had a chance to speak their order, and went back to sipping her water. "And with the salad, I'll take ranch."

When Eric looked to me, I ordered the first thing I saw – not knowing what I wanted. "Er… the mushroom ravioli for me," I confessed.

Everyone else gave their orders and Eric left with a kind smile in my direction and went off again.

"So, Edward," Alice chirped, and everyone turned their attention to the so-called 'prodigal' brother. "What have you been doing these past few years?"

Edward ran his fingers through his hair with a slight smile and shook his head. "I've actually been working for a small production studio out in San Francisco. I was the studio assistant manager, and it paid well. But when I heard that Chicago Metropolitan was looking for a new director for a show, I decided to come home. Not to mention the pay here was better anyway. And I also decided it was time to take to the family business… well, where most of my family was working."

"Well, I'm glad you came back, bro," Emmett chuckled. "Making fun of Alice hasn't has been much fun without you around."

Edward raised his eyebrows. "You're still going at her?" he asked.

Emmett shrugged with a grin. "Hey, somebody's got to keep her in line. You have no idea how annoying she is sometimes with that freaking costume crew of hers."

"I am not that bad. It's just that you don't have the respect for that kind of stuff like you should," Alice replied stiffly.

Rosalie patted his arm with her free hand. "She keeps me looking good on stage, babe," she reminded him with a mischievous smile. "And if you remember last show… I think that was a night to remember. And it was all because of Alice's genius."

Emmett grinned wolfishly, and I scowled at the pair of them. "Riley is here, you two," I reminded them sharply.

Riley giggled and I heard a low, silken chuckle from Edward. I sighed, and rolled my eyes – so Riley was less innocent than I had estimated. This was just great. "You and I are having a talk when we get home," I teased my daughter as I ruffled her hair. She squealed in disdain and shoved my hand away. I heard Edward laugh lightly.

Jasper chuckled. "Bells, Riley is fifteen," he told me.

"Really? I thought she was five," I answered jokingly.

"Hey, where have you been for the past ten years?" Alice teased, and I heard Riley giggling beside me. Edward looked surprised at our banter, but he was smiling. I suppose he would have to get used to how close we all were. We were a family – no matter how closely related we all were. It made me reassured at the end of every day that I had friends like these who would always be there to help take care of my daughter.

Lunch passed like that, in playful banter that introduced us only lightly to Alice's amazingly handsome brother. Although I thought he was handsome, I knew that these physical attractions were just physical and nothing else. And I'd had my share of 'physical' relationships.

"_Hey, babe, what's your name?" the man asked, sitting next to me at the bar. _

_I wrinkled my nose. The bar wasn't my first choice in dinner choices, but Riley was with her Uncle Jasper and his girlfriend Alice. Riley was only ten, and Jasper had been pestering me for a while for a chance to spend some time with his niece. I had agreed, of course. I looked at the man who had sat beside me skeptically, taking in his appearance._

_He had russet skin, with deep brown eyes that were even darker than mine. His hair was ebony black and went a little ways past his shoulders. All in all, he was beautiful in that Native American, almost Asian kind of way. He noticed me staring and grinned widely, and I felt red spread across my ivory skin. It was odd that a woman like myself of twenty-seven was still blushing. To think I had gotten over that in high school, or maybe even junior high. Apparently I had some growing up to do still. The thought was a bit disturbing._

_I winced to think of high school. _

"_What's your name?" the man asked again with a kinder smile this time. He looked at me expectantly until I decided to tell him._

"_Bella," I murmured softly. Men hit on me like this every day, and I was getting a bit tired of it. My past with men wasn't so great, and I was hesitant about anyone who even approached me or glanced my way._

"_Huh. Italian and Latin for 'beautiful'," the man mused, sipping on his martini. "A fitting name, I suppose. The name's Jacob. You can call me Jake." He sent a grin my way and the red was back across my face. It had been a while since I had met or spoken with an educated man. _

"_You speak Italian and Latin?" I asked, surprised. _

_Jacob chuckled and swirled the drink around in his glass. "Yeah," he said, almost like a boast. "And French too. English is my specialty." He winked at me and I giggled at the lame joke. "Where are you from? Someone like you normally doesn't hang around here."_

"_Hm? Oh, I live a couple of miles out of town on the north side," I answered, fiddling with a napkin that was in front of me as I avoided this curious man's gaze. "My daughter and I live in a small two-story."_

"_Daughter? You're a bit young to have a daughter, aren't you?" Jacob frowned with something that I didn't quite understand – it could have been disapproval. It was how most people reacted whenever I mentioned I had a daughter. Most men said 'No way!' or 'You've got to be joking, babe.' But of course I wasn't joking. How could I ever joke about Riley, who I loved so much?_

_I smiled faintly. "I had her when I was seventeen. She's staying with her uncle right now," I confessed. This Jake was so easy to talk to, and a faint spark of hope flickered in my chest. Maybe this time I had found someone different. Maybe this time I would have found the prefect, beautiful man._

All men had their flaws. So how could I not doubt that Edward had his?

X-x-X

_Edward_

"Edward Anthony Cullen, you get down here this very minute!" came the bubbly voice of my sister from downstairs. "Get your butt out of bed – we have to drive into work early today! It's auditions, you great lump!"

I groaned and nearly rolled out of my double bed. Back at my apartment in California (which I had secretly sold before I came – I was planning on staying here for a while and was keeping it a secret from my family until I thought it was a better time), I'd owned a king-sized bed that I never had to worry about falling out of. But Alice and Jasper had given me the only spare room they had – the room that Jasper had explained had been used for Riley Swan whenever she came over for an overnight visit while her mom took a vacation for being a mom.

Ah, Riley's mother. The amazingly beautiful Isabella Swan – my assistant.

Then I remembered that Alice was right. Today was going to be auditions for the show, and I would have to make the final cuts as to who would play whom in the musical. It was a very important day for everyone. Including myself, the director of the show.

I stumbled out of bed in a fluster, grabbing clothes just like I did every morning when I realized I was late. I wasn't sure if we were behind schedule, because there was no clock in this room. I'd have to change that rather soon.

I ended up going downstairs in a blue button-up shirt with khaki pants – a reasonable outfit for a director on his first day.

"Oh my God!" Alice exclaimed when I walked into the kitchen. "You look like a tornado swept through your room last night. Look at your hair, and that outfit! Ack! I'll have to fix it before we go. For now, breakfast." She gestured to the empty seat at the table where Jasper was sitting. He smiled at me apologetically as I sat down and grabbed a fork and knife. He seemed to know what Alice was screaming about.

"Sorry," my soon-to-be brother-in-law murmured when Alice had her back turned. "She does this to me too, sometimes."

"I heard that," my pixie of a sister snapped over her shoulder as she worked at the stove. "Don't think you'll go unpunished tonight, Jazzy. That remark was harsh." She looked back over her shoulder to wink at him though, a sure sign that he was automatically forgiven… it was either that or it was a extremely suggestive gesture that showed they'd be doing something later while I hopefully wasn't home. I liked to think it was the first option.

"Yes, ma'am," Jasper muttered, looking back to his bowl of cereal.

I laughed. Alice had him wrapped around her little finger.

"So when are we going in?" I asked. I felt strangely eager to get going. I had prepared the script I wanted some of the actors and actresses trying out to use, so I was ready for 'work'. Alice sent me a skeptical glance as she brought the food she was preparing over to the table.

"We're going in when I say we're going in," she told me proudly.

"Really?" I asked, surprised by her attitude.

"No, we're going in around eight." Alice giggled when I sent her an exasperated look. Sometimes my sister could be so daft – it was near infuriating at times. But she was my favorite sibling, considering as Emmett had used to have making fun of me as one of his favorite habits. "We need to be there early today, and Bella's coming in early too. You two need to get a talk or something in before auditions, I decided. Riley will be there too, and if I know her she's going to need me to calm her down."

"What do you mean, calm her down? What could Riley possibly be upset over?" I questioned skeptically. I hadn't known Riley for very long or very well, but I knew that she wasn't one for being overly exertive about her emotions.

Alice sent me a warning look. "I can't tell you that," she replied simply, jutting her chin out. "Something I've been working on with her for a while now. You're not allowed to tell anybody. Nobody can know until it's the right time." She turned away and went to clean off her hands in the sink. Jasper and I shared a nonplussed look before she returned, demanding that we eat our breakfasts.

The drive to the theatre was practically nerve-wracking. I was nervous; because this was my first play ever directed here at the Chicago Metropolitan. And besides this, there had only been three other plays that I had directed. None of them Anastasia. I had read through the script twice on the way on the plane, so I knew that it vaguely resembled the cartoon movie, and so I knew a little bit about how things were supposed to go. I bet that Bella probably knew a lot more about this play than I did.

Isabella. That beautiful woman I had met yesterday. She was wonderful, and I knew that our partnership would be one to remember when I eventually went back home. If I couldn't get her to go out on a date with me, that is. As we pulled into the parking lot, I silently vowed to myself that I'd get her to say 'yes' to me someday.

Alice pulled on my hand and dragged me into the theatre behind her, and Jasper walked with his hands in his pockets behind us.

As soon as we entered, Riley was there with her mother checking in. Riley looked like a nervous wreck, and every time her mother looked at her, she was bewildered at why her daughter was acting so strangely. When Alice came in, Riley looked at her helplessly and her aunt-to-be smiled encouragingly. I wondered what they were sharing silently, though I could just about read the minds of those around me. And I could tell that there was a secret they were both keeping from everyone. I figured I'd find out what it was soon enough. It was almost like a foreboding, in a way.

"There are a lot of people waiting to try out for this play," Isabella informed me with weary eyes, and I wondered if she had gotten any sleep last night. And if she hadn't, I wondered what was going on in that head of hers. "We'd better get started. I know we're supposed to start in about forty-five minutes, but I'd like to be out of here by two."

"Agreed," I answered immediately, looking down at her as she clutched a clipboard to her chest. "Is everything set up? As in, note sheets and everything like that?"

She nodded briskly. "I had Emmett and some of his friends bring out a table, and Angela and her department has taken care of all the note sheets. We can start right now, if you want. Do you have scrip passages ready for people to read?" she asked me skeptically, glancing at the rather small briefcase I was carrying.

"There's some in here, yes. Do you want them right now?" I replied.

She nodded, holding out her hand. "I'll take them and distribute them to everyone trying out," she said bluntly. I pulled them out of the case and handed them to her. That was when I noticed that both Riley and Alice were missing. Bella seemed to notice it at the same time I did, and rolled her eyes. When I looked at her questioningly, she shrugged. "They're probably off on their own. Alice and Riley do that a lot. Alice is Riley's private school teacher."

This interested me. Alice hadn't told me this over the phone or over the night. Jasper didn't looked surprised as he stepped forward and gave Bella a quick hug. I felt a pang of irrational jealousy when I remembered that he was her brother.

"See you later, Bells," Jasper told her. "I'm going to go and work on some lighting." He went off backstage.

Bella nodded and looked down at the passages I picked her. She raised her eyebrows. "You picked the scene between Demetri and Anastasia?" she asked skeptically.

"For the two trying out for the leads. There are three other scenes for some of the other characters," I pointed out. She nodded in a business-like manner and went off without a word. I waited until she returned, and she began walking towards the house.

"We're ready to begin, Mr. Cullen," she said to me.

I'd have to get her to call me Edward.

Well, fifty-two actors/actresses later, we'd come up with a few select choices for some of the main characters. Rosalie Hale, Emmett's girlfriend, would be playing Sophi. A boy named Seth Clearwater would be Demetri. Someone named Michael Newton would play the evil sorcerer. That was all we had. And I whispered to Bella that we were ready to look for Anastasia. She nodded briskly.

"Whoever's first, come on out and give us your name," she called out.

The person to walk on stage at her call was not a twenty-year old woman. It was Riley, Bella's daughter. She was trying out for Anastasia.

* * *

EOC: Oh! Somewhat of a cliff-hanger. Sorry for the crappy, non-descriptive ending, but I wanted to get this done for all you guys. Edward's perspective could have been better, but I couldn't have it from Riley's or it would spoil it, and Bella's just didn't fit for this part. I'm going to have to watch Anastasia again so I know the names and stuff. XP And some of these scenes are really based off the movie, but they're written by me because I have no idea if there's a musical version of that movie. I doubt it, and we all know how plays aren't always like the movie. Anyways… I hope you guys liked it. I'll be back soon with a new chapter, because I know some of you are going to want more! XD 'Til I update again. – Dark and Wild


	4. Chapter 4

So, alright. I watched Anastasia again (yes I'm still watching cartoon movies… where's your inner little kid, folks?) and so I know a bit more about it and therefore can give you a good 'adaptation'. But once again, I will be making up stuff just for the purpose of making it seem a little more realistic/play-like. I also don't really know how it works in the theatre business, and I've never seen this kind of stuff like auditions before. I only know how we do it in the minor leagues. **Disclaimer** is in Chapter 1.

Oh, and I've changed something from last chapter (the last few paragraphs, anyway), so… I'm posting the change here.

Chapter Song: _This Is Your Life_, By: Switchfoot

Featured Song: _Love Story_, By: Taylor Swift (sung by Riley for try-outs, I DO NOT own the lyrics.)

Here's the change:

_Bella too seemed sick of this._

"_Whoever's next, come on out and give us your name," she called out. _

_The person to walk on stage at her call was not a twenty-year old woman. It was Riley, Bella's daughter. She was trying out for Anastasia. _(Edward's POV, and I made it so that Riley wasn't the first to try out for Anastasia).

* * *

**Chapter 4: Sing Your Heart Out**

X-x-X

_Bella_

As soon as Riley came out on stage, I could feel myself tense. I felt Edward glance at me, and he looked unnerved by my expression, whatever it was. I didn't know. All I knew was that Riley, _my _baby, was trying out for Anastasia and was going out to be an actress. So _this _is what Alice had been keeping her late 'after school' for.

I felt three emotions at once: frustration, pride, and anxiety.

"Riley Swan," she said confidently, grinning out at the audience (I think she was grinning at me and Edward).

Edward looked staggered, and he looked at me again. I shrugged, trying to look nonchalant as I looked up at my daughter on stage.

"You have an accompaniment for your song, I hope?" Edward continued sounding business-like as he looked down at his clipboard and marked a couple of things down.

Riley nodded boldly. "I had some music recorded, if that's okay," she stated.

Edward looked at her and dipped his head. "You can begin singing as soon as you'd like, Miss Swan," he told her. I kept my mouth shut tightly, for fear I would scream or cry or whatever my body would do if I lost control of it. Edward seemed to understand this and kept quiet to me.

Riley dipped her head in return and didn't take five minutes to prepare like the other actresses had. She just cued someone off stage (I bet it was Jasper or Emmett or even Alice), and music filled the auditorium. It was guitar, and it built up for about ten seconds until I heard Riley sing for the very first time. She never sang in front of me, and Alice said she rarely sang period. I wondered to myself what my future sister-in-law had done to get her to come out here and sing. But right now, I was focusing on my daughter's voice.

"_We were both young when I first saw you_

_I close my eyes and the flashback starts_

_I'm standing there, in the back and needing summer air._

_I see the lights, see the party, the bargains,_

_I see you make your way through the crowd and say 'hello',_

_Little did I know._

"_That you were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles_

_And my daddy said 'stay away from Juliet', _

_And I was crying on a staircase, begging you 'please don't go'._

_And I said,_

"'_Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone_

_I'll be waiting, all there's left to do is run,_

_You'll be the prince, and I'll be the princess,_

_It's a love story, baby just say yes."_

We didn't stop her, because her voice was beautiful. She sounded better than Taylor Swift (I had heard this song on the radio plenty of times, so I knew which song it was), and I looked over at Edward. He was just gazing at my daughter speculatively, hitting his pen that he was holding gently against his jaw. He didn't stop her either, so I took this as a good sign. I turned back to the stage when the second verse began.

"_So I sneak out to the garden to see you,_

_We keep quiet, 'cause we're dead if they knew, _

_So close your eyes, and escape this town for a little while._

"_Cause you were Romeo, I was a Scarlet Letter,_

_And my daddy said 'stay away from Juliet',_

_But you were everything to me, I was begging you 'please don't go'._

_And I said,_

"'_Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone,_

_I'll be waiting, all there's left to do is run,_

_You'll be the prince, and I'll be the princess,_

_It's a love story, baby just say yes._

'_Romeo save me, Good Charlotte tell me how to feel,_

_This love is difficult, but it's real,_

_Don't be afraid, we'll make it out of this mess,_

_It's a love story, baby just say yes."_

This time she looked out at the audience, but we were all quiet as we stared at her on stage. She took this as a good sign and she waited for the interlude in the song to stop before she began singing again.

"_I got tired of waiting,_

_Wondering if you were ever coming around,_

_I faith in you was fading,_

_When I met you on the outskirts of town._

_And I said,_

"'_Romeo, save me, I've been so alone,_

_I keep waiting for you but you never come,_

_Is this in my head? I don't what to think.'_

_He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring and said,"_

The music had been steadily growing louder, and I felt like crying when she belted out,

"'_Marry me Juliet, you'll never have to be alone._

_I love you, and that's all I really know._

_I talked to your dad, you'll pick out a white dress,_

_It's a love story, baby just say yes.'_

'_Cause we were both young when I first saw you."_

Complete silence was met at the end of her song. By the looks on our faces, she looked abashed and looked down at her feet. There was grief in her expression, and I gasped internally in disgusted shock. She thought we were quiet because we though her singing was _bad_. Seeing her face, and being her mother, I could just feel it.

"That… that was amazing, Miss Swan," Edward told her reassuringly, looking speechless. "Would you like to stay and read from the script? Let's just make sure you can get this role down."

Riley looked at him disbelievingly. "What do you mean?" she asked, her voice a little shaky.

Edward smiled and looked at me. "Well, if your mother Ms. Swan here agrees with me, I think you'd be perfect for Anastasia," he said in the general direction of the stage. "Mr. Clearwater, are you here?"

"I am." Seth Clearwater stood from his seat in the audience, staring at the stage in awe. Apparently he'd been watching Riley's performance. The way he looked at her now made my blood boil, but I gritted my teeth as the boy playing Dimitri came up and got two copies of the script from Edward.

"Now, if you two don't mind. I'd like to see how you interact on stage together. As the leads, you'll obviously need to work together on the stage throughout the production. Miss Swan, I think you'd be amazing with Anastasia, but I need to make sure. I hope neither of you mind," Edward explained dutifully after Seth took the scripts and began moving towards the stage. I frowned slightly when both of them shook their heads frantically – they didn't seem to mind at all. Riley looked more excited than anything.

Seth got up onto stage, handing her one of the copies. She took it gratefully, and their eyes met for a second. I scowled now, folding my arms tightly as I watched Riley's face light up and she smiled. I couldn't believe this. I was beginning to regret Alice making her try out. And I was beginning to regret that my daughter was so good at singing. But like always, I wasn't mad at my daughter. I was mad at the way the world was beginning to pull everything apart at the seams.

Edward gestured for them to begin the scene.

Riley nodded and looked down at the script. "Dimitri, how could you do this to me?" she demanded. Even though this was the first time she had ever seen the script, she put anger into her voice and even sent Seth an irritated glance. I secretly enjoyed that.

"Anya, can't you let me explain?" Seth asked, his voice sounding almost pained. He'd have to work on that, but he was doing well.

Riley shook her head frantically. "No," she snapped. "Because I wouldn't believe you anyway. You've lied to me. The entire way here, you've been using me just so you could make some money!" She turned away from him, and I shot a glance at Edward. He was watching the acting pair with intense eyes, and I suspected that he was making his judgment on whether or not Riley was perfect for the part.

"Yes, that may have been true when we first started out," Seth pleaded. He was very good; I had to admit. "But believe me, please, when I say that you really are the princess!"

"Just leave me alone," Riley growled at him, her back still turned. "You know, I believed in you. But I guess taking homeless girls off the street is what your kind do. Stay away from me." She began walking away, but then Seth reached forward and grabbed her arm like a desperate man would. I frowned at the contact.

Riley looked surprised that Seth had actually touched her, and Seth just held on, looking at her face in earnest. "Anya, I know I've lied, but please believe me. You're the princess Anastasia, and that's the truth. I've screwed up your faith in me, and I'm sorry. Can't you forgive me this one time?" He looked like he was about to get down on his knees and beg, and a puppy-like expression crossed his face.

She frowned and shook him off coldly. "You had your chance, Dimitri. Get out of here," she growled.

"Alright, stop," Edward said, getting to his feet. Both actors on stage turned to look at him as he began speaking. Riley began fiddling with her script and looking down at the floor anxiously. This was the verdict. "That was fantastic," Edward continued. "I think you're both perfect for the roles. Miss Swan, I expect you to be at the first rehearsal tomorrow morning. I suppose that won't be a problem. Seth, excellent work. I think this is going to turn out nicely. Ms. Swan, would you mind coming with me backstage to confer with some others, and perhaps take a lunch break?"

I nodded. Edward was just so hard to resist. His business-like tone was amazingly beautiful and alluring in its own right. I couldn't trust my tongue around him. And I didn't want to say something that I would regret.

Riley beamed on stage and skipped off happily. Seth watched her go with some kind of goofy smile on his face and got off the stage too. A woman, who wasn't much older than him, met him – I guessed that she was his sister. But I didn't pay much attention. I followed Edward back stage, where Riley was waiting with Alice, Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie.

"Riley, I had no idea you were going to try out as an actress!" Rosalie was exclaiming when we arrived. "That was great!"

"Not as great as you, babe," Emmett teased, kissing his love on the cheek. Rosalie giggled and threw her arms around his neck.

Alice and Jasper were giving Riley hugs.

"Riley, that was great! I didn't know you had such talent in you!" Alice said. "Well, I mean, of course I knew you had talent, but wow! That was amazing!"

"Nice job," Jasper agreed with a serene smile.

When Riley turned to face me, she instantly looked ashamed and looked down at her feet. I could tell she was guilty about keeping this all from me, but how could I help but be so proud of her? There was a part of me that wanted to tell her that keeping secrets from your own mother was bad, but what child didn't keep secrets from their parents? Riley was a normal girl, and so she was going to do normal teenage girl things.

"Mom, I wanted to tell you, but-"

"Riley, I'm not angry." I cut her off – I didn't want her feeling guilty. "What you just did was probably the bravest thing I have ever seen." Excluding everything she had done for me when she was younger.

"_Laurent, I wasn't talking about sex with him! I was just talking about buying a t-shirt with the clerk! Why are you so jealous all the time? Am I not allowed to speak to other men?" I demanded. _

_Laurent snorted, shaking his head. "You're a sly little bitch, you know that? How can you deny that to my face?" he shouted at me._

"_What on earth are you talking about?"_

"_See? There you go again! What does it take for a man to get respect in this fucking house?" Laurent advanced on me, grabbing a kitchen knife along the way. "Do I have to kill you so you can go to hell and find out what you did? You good for nothing bitch?"_

"_Don't talk to her that way!" There was Riley, thirteen, standing on the staircase. When we had gotten home, she had been sleeping – apparently Laurent's yelling had woken her up. "Don't talk to my mom like that, Laurent!'_

"_You stay out of this, Riley!" Laurent shouted, throwing the knife at my daughter. She jumped out of the way – it hit the wall and stuck into the place where her head had been just a second ago. I gasped and tackled him to the floor – nobody threw a knife at my daughter. I had thought Laurent was different – I thought he would have been the one I could spend my life with. Would my bad judgment ever end?_

_Laurent rolled on top of me, his hazel eyes glinted over with malice and anger. "You like it rough, don't you?" he shouted as he ripped open my shirt – buttons flying everywhere. "How about I teach you a thing or two about talking to other men about this behind my back? How would you like that, you fucking slut?"_

"_Get away from her!" Riley growled at him, and suddenly she was there. She shoved my half-mad boyfriend off of me, her eyes filled with an outrage that practically matched his. "I dare you to call her a slut again! See what happens!"_

_Laurent sneered at her and got to his feet. I got to my feet too, pulling the shirt around myself in an attempt to cover my stomach. Riley stood her ground, rocking back and forth on her heels as if she were ready to leap aside at any second. Laurent continued to approach her, looking as if he were about to wring her neck with his bare hands. Perhaps he was._

"_You don't have any respect for adults, do you?" Laurent growled at her, looking positively stormy. "I'll teach you a lesson too, I guess, before I educate your mother on proper technique. I'll teach you to be quiet, you little brat. Maybe the best way is to do to you what I'm planning to do with your mother. How does that sound?" His voice turned into a deadly purr now, as his hands went to the buckle on his pants. He unbuttoned his jeans and slid them down as he was walking and kick them away. And from what I saw, he wasn't wearing anything underneath._

_Oh, God. He was going to rape my daughter._

_Riley seemed to realize this too. Her eyes went wide in panic as she dashed for the stairs. But Laurent was too quick. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him. I began frantically searching for something that I could hit him with. I had to stop this before my daughter was permanently damaged._

"_Let go of me!" Riley said, but her voice was shaky in fear._

"_Shut up, you miniature bitch!" Laurent sneered at her. I glanced over my shoulder to see that he was fiddling with her jeans from behind. I doubled my efforts to find something, but there didn't seem to be anything useful nearby. Where was a blunt weapon when you needed it?_

_I heard Riley whimper, and the sound of a zipper going down. I had to find something!_

_That was when I found a softball bat – Riley had left it on the table after practice today. Thank the Lord. I grabbed it and rushed to my daughter's aid before Laurent could…_

_Riley screamed. _

_I ran over as quickly as I could, whacked Laurent over the head with the bat, and he slid to the floor with a gentle _thud_. Riley was crying, and she was turned away from me. Was I too late? Had she…?_

_The look on her face told me everything when she looked at me. I was too late. My gaze flickered downward. Her legs were shaking, and I could see the faintest trickle of blood going down her leg. Oh, no. He'd broken her wall too hard. It broke my heart that he'd even broken her wall at all. Because of me, my baby girl wasn't a virgin anymore. It was all my fault._

_She sobbed in my arms all night._

"Really?" Riley asked brightly, looking at me hopefully.

I nodded with a smile. "Sure. You deserve the part. What brought all this on, anyway?"

Riley blushed and glanced towards Alice, who grinned and gestured for her to continue. I sent a wary glance in Alice's direction and my future sister-in-law giggled. "I was telling Aunt Alice about how you wouldn't let me work in Chicago, and how I wanted to make money for us – I'm fifteen, Mom. I need to be helping out. So Aunt Alice suggested that I try out for the musical. I thought it was a great idea."

Edward laughed. "Well, it was," he told Riley. "Now we have the two best choices for our leads. You were great on stage." Riley blushed at the compliment; she was modest like I was.

"So you're really not angry at me for keeping this a secret?" Riley asked anxiously, looking at me now.

I laughed. "Riley, you're a teenager. If you didn't keep secrets from me, I would think there's something wrong with you. Don't worry about it, honey," I assured her.

Riley sighed in relief. Alice chuckled.

"I told you so," Alice snickered. "She doesn't have the ability to be angry with you. Or anyone else for that matter."

"You want to bet on that?" I sneered.

Alice just laughed. "Sure, Bells. Whatever floats your boat."

Jasper, Emmett, Rosalie, Riley, and even Edward laughed at that. I felt my face go beet-red, and Riley gave me a hug. Jasper wrapped his arms around his fiancé, and Alice smiled and leaned into his embrace. Emmett kissed Rosalie on the cheek, and the actress in his arms giggled. Edward shoved his hands in his pockets, smiling at my daughter and me. All I could manage was a measly smile in return. He was so handsome, and I sincerely hoped that he'd find someone he could be happy with someday.

X-x-X

_Riley_

My heart was still thudding from being on stage even when my mom was driving us home for dinner. I was so excited that I was going to be in _Anastasia_, and working with that hunk of an actor Seth Clearwater. He was so handsome, I felt like fainting in my seat just thinking about him. And I hadn't missed my mother sending him disapproving looks after lunch break – she must have noticed how much I liked him already.

"Riley, honey?"

"Hm?" I looked up to the rearview mirror, where my mother was watching me carefully.

"What do you think of Mr. Cullen?" she asked anxiously.

I blinked in surprise. I hadn't expected that one, and definitely not coming from my mother. Still, I couldn't just lie. "Uh… I think he's cool. I mean, I don't know him very well but he seems like the good-guy type. Why?"

I saw my mother's cheeks go a faint, fluttery pink. I smirked. "I was just asking," she said.

"Why, do you like him?" I asked.

"Well, I… no," she responded.

I sat up straighter, folding my arms across my chest. "Come on, Mom. You can admit that kind of stuff to me. I'm a teenager, and I sort of understand. What is it about him? His looks? His smile? His talking? His personality? What is it? Tell me!" I urged her as I leaned forward in interest.

My mom frowned, but paused to think. "Well, everything, I guess. I like working with him – he's easy to get along with," she told me.

I grinned. "So you think you're in _love _with him?"

"Riley, I've barely known him for a day! What are you talking about?" she demanded. "I just said he was easy to get along with, not that I had fallen completely head over heels for him! Are you insane?" She tried to glare at me, but all it turned out to be was a disdainful look that made me giggle. I didn't respond; and she took that as a sign to continue on and to go in depth about how she felt.

"He's good-looking enough…"

"Good-looking enough to get in bed?" I asked.

My mother gasped as we pulled into the driveway of our house. "Riley Renee Swan! Who on earth taught you that? Wait, no, don't tell me. I'll deal with your Uncle Emmett tomorrow. Get in that house young lady, before I decide that its your fault for learning that kind of language. I didn't raise you to talk like that," she said sternly. I laughed.

"How did you know Uncle Emmett taught me that?" I asked slyly. "It could have been Aunt Alice."

"Because Aunt Alice doesn't have that kind of mouth, and she's actually a good role model," Mom shot at me, and I grinned. She was smart (not that she had ever been stupid).

Just as I was getting out of the car, a silver Volvo pulled into our driveway. My mom stiffened, and I froze. What was going on; who was this? Had my mother gotten another boyfriend that she hadn't told me about yet? But when the door to the shiny new car opened and the person who was in it stepped out, I almost dropped my jaw to the driveway and ran.

What was Edward Cullen doing here?

"Bella, you left some of your notes back at the theater. I thought it'd be nice to give them back to you," he said in a silky smooth voice. I shot a smug look at my mother, who glared at me and waved me off to the house. I giggled and went to unlock the door. I heard my mother say in a small voice,

"I thought you were riding with Alice and Jasper."

"The airport had my rental car ready," Edward explained to her, and as I opened up the door, I paused to listen/eavesdrop on their conversation. "Your notes?" Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him handing my mother the pile of notes. There were a lot of notes there – she really must have been in a hurry to leave if she had left all that back at the theater. I grinned to myself.

"Oh, thanks," my mother said quietly as she took them from him. "Do you want to stay for dinner?"

Whoa. Where did that come from? I froze, my eyes widening. Was my mother taking the initiative on this one? I turned my head to look at Edward's shocked expression, and my mother's own shy one. Oh, wow.

"Er, I suppose I have time for that," Edward replied. "Will Riley mind?" His gaze flickered to me. I opened my mouth to answer him, but my mother beat me to it.

"I'm sure she won't." I glared at her.

"Excellent," Edward replied.

Oh, boy. What had happened to Mom?

* * *

EOC: Oh! Finally got this thing updated. Sorry for the delay, guys. =] Dealing with a crazy family and school at the same time isn't the easiest thing in the world. So what do you guys think about the whole dinner thing? Too fast, too slow? Just downright hate it? I hoped you guys liked it. 'Til next time. – Dark and Wild


	5. Chapter 5

Wow, guys. This story has gotten more alerts/favorites than anything I've ever written on the net. You guys make a girl like me proud. I've also gotten seven reviews, from _jadesabre75,_ _wierdocaitlin_, _pac1025_, and _MeggyandHaku_. You guys keep me going. ^_^ I'm also glad you think Bella's not a total washout; I kind of realized that she is almost never able to do anything when her daughter's in danger. Kind of sad, but she has saved Riley from some things (I've thought out their entire history, because I'm an evil person who loves angst stuff). Well, without further ado… here's Chapter 5. Enjoy!

Chapter Song: _The Things We Don't_, By: Watertown

* * *

**Chapter 5: Never Do That Again**

X-x-X

_Riley_

Mom had officially lost her mind. Edward came in after both of us had entered, and I shut the door behind him. Aunt Alice was going to flip when I told her that my mom practically kidnapped Alice's brother for dinner. Even though they weren't going out or anything like that, Alice was still going to freak out (she tended to do that a lot when it came to my mom). Uncle Jasper, too, probably. Uncle Jazz was overbearingly protective about that sort of thing.

"Uh… I didn't really plan on this, so, um… I'm going to have to make dinner," Bella confessed, and I rolled my eyes. 'Wasn't planning on this' was a bit of an understatement.

"That's fine," Edward assured her. He smiled at me, and I frowned slightly in disdain. "I'm sure there are things I can do to pass the time." My mom blushed at that, muttered a quick 'sorry', and walked to the kitchen. Edward turned to me, and by then I had folded my arms and was staring at him with a smirk on my face.

"Er… so how are you?" he asked me.

"Really? You're making small talk?" I asked back with a grin. "C'mon, you can come in the living room. I'm not going to bite… unless your presence infects me with rabies. Which I really hope it doesn't." I turned away from him and led him into our small living room. There was couch and an armchair in there, all centered around my mom's flat-screen T.V. And sitting beside that was my Wii – Uncle Emmett had gotten it for me for Christmas last year.

"You play?" I asked him as I switched the T.V on and began plugging in the plugs required. I might as well pass the time with Edward in some kind of non-boring way.

"Play what?" he replied, raising his eyebrows.

I tossed him a remote. "The Nintendo Wii. Uncle Emmett got it for me last year. You've ever played one of these things before?" It wasn't exactly hard to be completely casual with him. If my mother had the guts to ask him out tonight, surely he'd be around some more. So he might as well get used to being somewhat of a friend to me. After all, there was no way he was going to date my mother without my approval first. Not this time around. I wasn't going to let my mom get hurt like that again. I didn't care how hot Edward was for a middle-aged man - he wasn't getting to her without going through me first.

"A few times back in California," Edward answered, catching on to my casual tone. "Are you skilled with it?"

"You kidding? I even beat Uncle Emmett at it last week, and he's the bomb with this system. He kind of got mad at me and almost threw me across the room. It was awesome – everyone was over, too," I told him. I could still see my uncle's outraged face in my head. I grinned.

"Then I suppose I don't stand a chance with you," Edward told me with a chuckle. "What games do you have?"

"Mario Kart, Wii Play, Wii Sports, Guitar Hero… you name the multiplayer game, and I've got it," I replied, telling the downright truth. I wasn't going to lie – my family downright spoiled me when it came to video games. Especially Uncle Emmett, who was practically obsessed with this kind of stuff. "You play any of those?"

"Guitar Hero," Edward responded almost automatically. I grinned at him.

"That a challenge?" I asked him with a smirk.

"If you take it that way," Edward answered smoothly. "I hope you've practiced recently, because I'll have you know that I'm a natural musician."

I laughed. I liked the way this Edward guy was playing his game. It was funny for an adult like him. "Even the guitar gods can't stop me," I told him with a grin. "So if you think you've got some natural talent, I hope you step it up. Because there's no way that you're going to beat me with some raw skill on your hands."

Edward laughed in return. This was fun. My mother never wanted to play Guitar Hero with me, because she liked to say that it wasn't something she could play. "Raw skill? I think that's what I'd call you," he taunted.

"We'll see, then, won't we?" I asked as I put the game in and turned the system on.

It was for about fifteen minutes that the pair of us 'rocked out' on Guitar Hero. He beat me four out of seven times, which was a bit humiliating considering, as I had beaten Uncle Emmett at this game a million times over. It frustrated me. Where had he learned to play this game? And to play it so well? It kind of bothered me. After the seventh time we played, and my mother called us into the kitchen for dinner, Edward grinned at me. He knew he had won. I glared at him, hands on my hips as I attempted to stare him down.

"Where'd you learn how to do that?" I demanded.

Edward laughed and wriggled his fingers. "Piano player by heart, Miss Riley," he answered with a playful smile. "Oh, and might I mention I didn't learn from an amateur like Emmett."

I laughed at that and followed him into the kitchen.

"Have fun, you two?" Bella asked when she saw our grins. She was distributing spaghetti onto our plates and eyed each of us in that stern sort of way like she did with me whenever I was a little kid caught stealing cookies from the cookie jar.

"_Riley Renee Swan, is that chocolate I see smudged on your lips?" Bella asked. _

_I was four, and living with my mom in a small apartment in downtown Chicago. We had a tiny kitchen and a tiny living room and a tiny bedroom, where she'd always keep me safe and warm at night in her own arms. I liked it. I smiled up at my mother and grinned proudly. _

"_Nope," I answered. _

"_You're a rotten liar, and you know it," she warned me. "Now tell me or I'll tickle it out of you."_

_I shrieked in delight and ran back to the couch. My mother caught me before I reached it and swung me around in the air until she cuddled me in her arms like she always did. She smiled at me and kissed my cheek gently before setting me on the counter and looking me in the eye. I giggled. _

"_Where is that cookie, missy?" she asked playfully. _

"_I eated it," I boasted, puffing my chest out proudly. _

"_You _ate _it, sweetie?" she asked again. _

_I nodded cheerfully. Without warning she began tickling me, and I shrieked with laughter. We were a happy family. Even though I didn't have a daddy, I had a mommy who loved me very much and a very special uncle who also loved me very much. That's what my mommy told me every night before we went to bed. That she loved me, that Uncle Jasper loved me, and that Grandpa Charlie loved me._

"You bet we did," I replied brightly. "Edward here is like a god at Guitar Hero."

Edward laughed. "I wouldn't say that," he said modestly.

"Dude, you totally rocked," I told him, like he was trying to lie to my mom. "You were awesome. Mom, if you ever played, he would beat your butt."

"That's great, Riley," Mom told me with an absent-minded kind of voice. "Go clean up. You know I don't like you eating without washing your hands. Off you go." When I hesitated, she rolled her eyes with a smile. "Come on, honey. Edward isn't going to disappear out of thin air, I promise. Now go get washed up."

Reluctantly, I obeyed. My mom normally didn't remind me to wash my hands, but I figured since Edward was here, everything was going to be completely out of whack. Considering, as my mom's brain had seemed to completely fry in the past hour. I smiled brightly nonetheless as I scrubbed my hands with soap. When I came back out to the kitchen, Mom and Edward were already seated at the table. It looked like they had been waiting for me.

I rushed and sat down by my mother, and looked at the pair of them.

"Dig in," my mother announced, and I didn't need a second reminder. I took a forkful and shoved it in my mouth. I loved Mom's cooking, especially whenever it was pasta. Spaghetti wasn't my favorite dish, but it certainly was on the top ten of my list.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Edward eat a few bites and gaze at my mother intently as if he were seeing a new woman. I smirked to myself and hid it by stuffing some more spaghetti in my mouth. This was really awkward, and the silence stretched on for a few moments until Edward finally cleared his throat and both my mother and I looked at him at the same time.

"This is very good. Where did you learn to cook like this?" he asked.

I glanced at my mom. She blushed slightly as she chewed on her bite and swallowed. "I've always cooked like this. Most of my recipes are from my grandmother. But taking care of Riley… having a child tends to hone your cooking skills a bit," she answered. "I'm not naturally this good."

I rolled my eyes. My mother could underestimate herself sometimes. It wasn't irritating, but I sometimes wished that she wouldn't think of herself in such a negative light. I loved her too much to see her suffer like that. She suffered enough from rotten males, and had taken too much of their crap to take her own too. That was why I didn't complain to her so much. I knew that she'd gone through a lot, and I'd gone through it with her. After everything we had been through, I just wanted to see her happy. "She's lying," I told Edward with a small smile. "She's always been this good."

"Riley…" Mom looked at me like she was going to contradict me and I looked right back.

Edward chuckled. "Well, I think this is delicious," he complimented again. "Alice couldn't cook like this, even if she tried."

My mother laughed to that. I loved it when she laughed – it made her seem like a younger, carefree person that I'm sure that she once was. "Don't say that in front of her," she warned him. "She'll rip you a new mouth with a carving knife."

Edward and I both laughed, because we knew it was true. Aunt Alice definitely wasn't the type to take that kind of comparison nicely; since it would be coming from her older brother, it wouldn't have gone over well anyway. I loved my Aunt Alice to death of course, but I did value my life in a way that restrained me from saying stuff like that to her face.

"So, Edward…" By the look on my mom's face, she really wanted to start a conversation. That confused me. Normally, she was quite comfortable with silence at the dinner table. "What was California like?"

Edward poked at his food thoughtfully for a moment with his fork. "Well, it was warm every day. It hardly ever rained… and there were plenty of rich people. In a single day, I swear that you would meet people from at least six different countries that spoke dozens of languages. It was bizarre, like being in an international airport every day of your life. It wasn't bad of course, but here at least I have family," he said.

I painted the picture in my head as he explained it. I'd never been anywhere out of Chicago except for in Forks with my Grandpa Charlie. Mom never had time (or the money for that manner), to take me to California. The picture was beautiful, and I wished that I could go there.

That expression must have shown on my face, because Edward said,

"I'd be honored to take you there one day, Riley. I think you would love their theater department," he remarked with a kind smile.

I laughed. "Only because Hollywood and all those famous actors are there," I giggled. But I looked to my mother with excitement on my face. "Mom, do you think I could go there sometime?"

My mother observed me for a few seconds before answering that question. "Maybe," was the answer I got. "If Edward can put up with you for that long." She didn't need to say the rest out loud – she didn't trust him yet. With our past, I could find that easy to believe that she was having trouble imagining me being off by myself with someone like Edward. But my instincts told me that she _would _learn to trust him, and they'd be working closely for the next few months and I was sure that somehow they'd become close.

I could only fantasize about how close.

The rest was up to them, of course. Like yesterday, when I'd noticed something spark between the two of them, I couldn't help but be hopeful. My mother needed someone she could depend on that wasn't half her age. I needed a father, if I was being honest with myself. I wonder if Mom was having any of those kind of thoughts about Edward yet. Of course, I wasn't sure if Edward was going to be that special father, but I hoped that whoever it was going to be, my mother would find him soon.

We both needed a man to take care of us.

"I'm sure I'll manage to cope," Edward chuckled in response to that, winking across the table at me. I winked back with a grin on my face.

"Now Riley." He turned the subject to more serious matter. "Do you think you'll be able to handle the role of Anastasia? There's going to be a lot of work and effort that you're going to need to put into it. I want the best damn show I can possibly have."

I frowned. "I can do it," I said plainly. "My Aunt Alice helped me this far, and she can help me make your show the best damn show you can possibly have."

Edward smiled and nodded, pleased with my answer. "That's all I needed to hear. Now, Isabella…"

"Bella," my mother corrected him. "Just Bella. I can't stand it when someone calls me Isabella."

And I knew exactly why.

"_Isabella!" came the voice of Jacob as he prowled around the house. I was pretty sure that he had some kind of weapon with him, but I wasn't sure what. I just hoped it wasn't a gun._

_Mom and I were crouched in her own apartment closet, clothes around us to shield our bodies in case Jacob decided to search here. We weren't stupid, and we knew he was angry. Probably lost at gambling again with his buddies Quil and Sam. They always went to a casino on Sundays (ironically), and Jacob almost always came back empty-handed… with anger management issues that scared my mother and me silly._

"_Isabella! Riley!" Jacob called again, throwing my name into the mix. In response, my mother crushed me tighter against her chest, kissing my hair lightly as I whimpered quietly. I was scared of Jacob now – even though I was ten and probably should have been a brave girl. I wanted to be like someone brave in the books I read or the movies I watched. But fear froze everything._

"_Come out, you two," Jacob growled, his patience dissipating quickly._

_My mother refused to move, and we both stopped breathing as the closet door opened. The clothes hanging around us restricted our sight, but we could see Jacob's tennis shoes practically touching my bare foot. He didn't seem to notice and slammed the closet door on us. _

"_I know you're in here somewhere," Jacob snapped under his breath. "So help me G-d, I'll find you, damn it."_

Those words still haunted me to this day, even if their owner was long gone.

"Alright." Edward didn't sound confused in the least, and just continued. "Now, I know we already have your daughter on contract, but are you personally going to be able to handle her doing this?"

I saw my mother nod, and smile slightly. "I sort of knew this day would come, actually," she confessed with a proud glance in my direction. I grinned back smugly. "I always knew Riley was going to amount to something great. I guess I just never knew she'd be a star in theater. I'll have to deal with it now or never deal with it ever. I take the first option."

Edward smiled as he finished the last of his spaghetti. "Do you have any more of this?" he asked politely, gesturing to his plate. "This is quite delicious, and I'd like to have some more before I go."

"Riley, could you get him some more, please?" Mom asked.

I nodded – what else could I do? I got up from my place, took his plate, and took it to the pasta pan on the stove. As I shoveled some onto his plate, I heard my mother ask,

"So are you glad to be back in Chicago?"

I turned around and went to deliver his plate back. My mother had turned her head away to take another bite of her spaghetti, so I was the only one who saw Edward stare at her intently as he contemplated his answer. "Yes," was what he said softly, his green eyes on my mother as she looked back at him. I put his plate down in front of him and tried to hide my expression. I wasn't sure what I looked like right now.

Edward thanked me as I sat back down and began eating his food again. I glanced at Mom, and she hadn't noticed anything. That was a complete relief on its own. But the way he looked at me… I knew he knew that I had noticed him looking at her like that. But I didn't comment as I sat down back at my plate and finished off my spaghetti. I wasn't hungry anymore. So I just sat there and fiddled with my fork. Typically, I'd tell my mother that I was done and rush off to play Wii or read a book. Tonight, however, I was interested in finding out what else was going to happen in between them.

"But why did you come back?" Mom asked now, curious. She leaned in towards him slightly.

Edward didn't notice this and shoveled a mouthful of spaghetti into his mouth. He thought about it as he chewed and swallowed. "I'm not really sure," he confessed when his mouth was empty. "I missed Alice and Emmett like crazy, and every time Alice and I were on the phone she'd gush about you and your daughter. Curiosity got the best of me – that's another way to put it."

My mom looked shocked by his answer. "You came back because of Riley and I?"

"Er… not exactly," Edward replied. He looked uncomfortable with this subject, though I didn't necessarily know why. "But you would want to come see a beautiful woman and her genius child too if your little sister talked about them constantly. Wouldn't you?"

Suddenly, Mom looked uneasy. She squirmed in her seat. I noticed that only half of her food was gone, while Edward and I were completely done. "Oh," she said quietly.

Edward stood. "Well, that was a very appealing dinner, Bella," he said with a reassuring smile. "And that was fun, Riley. We'll have to rock out again some time. I must go now – I'm quite sure Alice is having some sort of fit by now. Thank you for inviting me tonight."

Mom rushed to her feet and nearly tripped herself in the process. She told me that once when she was a teenager, she was exceedingly clumsy. It was a trait that I hadn't inherited. "Oh, well, I'm glad you came Edward. I'll, um, get your coat." She stumbled off, tripping over herself on the way to the closet as I walked Edward out into the hallway. This was fun tonight – I had to agree with him.

"You should come over again sometime," I told him confidently. "When we meet again, I'll be a master and you won't stand a chance."

Edward winked. "We'll see about that," he taunted as my mother returned.

Mom handed him his coat and smiled slightly. Only I could notice that it was her nervous smile – the kind she wore whenever she didn't know what else to say or do. "Here's your coat, Edward," she told him. "Thank you for bringing my notes to me, and it was great having you over."

Edward dipped his head and opened the door for himself and stepped outside. A gust of chilly night air blew in and I shivered, holding my arms as if to protect myself from the icy blast. "I'll see you both tomorrow. Good night." He shut the door behind himself and was gone. Mom and I both stood by the door, waiting for a moment until we heard the purr of his Volvo and listened to it fade into the distance.

"Well, that was eventful," I chirped as I skipped into the living room with my mother following me. "When are we going to have him over again, Mom?"

My mother just shook her head, sank onto the couch, and buried her face in her hands. "Riley, honey, we're not going to have him over again. That was too much," she told me softly, as if she were confessing a deep, dark secret. I stared at her in shock.

"But… but Mom…."

"No, Riley," she said, with more determination behind her words this time. "I jumped into that too quickly. You know how I do that. That's how I ended up with Jacob and Laurent, honey. You know that's exactly how it happened. I am _not _going to do that again. I will never do that again. Not to you and not to myself."

I had been taking care of the T.V, and paused. I looked at my mother, who was sitting with her head in her hands and was practically falling apart. I went to her and sat down next to her, wrapping my arms around her frame like a clingy child.

"Mom, you know we're going to be okay," I murmured. "No more Jacob and Laurent. Jacob moved far away with that Leah chick and Laurent's in jail for another five years for…" I couldn't bring myself to say what he had done. The bottom half of my body practically throbbed in pain at the thought of it. "Look, the point is that we're both still here. Edward Cullen isn't going to change that. No matter how you feel about him."

"But that's the problem, honey," Mom replied quietly, kissing the side of my head affectionately. "I don't think I like Edward in _that _way. I've only known him for a day – how could I?"

"When it's meant to be, that's the way it is," I reminded her.

My mother just laughed. "I suppose either Alice or Jasper told you that. Or maybe even Rosalie. Riley, honey, we're not like them. Everyone is different, and so are relationships. I'm not implying Edward and I do or ever will have a relationship, but you know what I'm saying. For instance, that Seth Clearwater boy today at auditions…"

"Don't change the subject, Mom," I cut her off rather fiercely, not wanting to discuss Seth with my mother right now. That was a bit of an awkward subject. "But will you even consider the possibility?"

"No." That was the final, throat-slitting answer. My mother fixed me in a stern look. "Riley, I know you want me to be happy, but you can't merely throw me at Edward. He's going to be my brother-in-law, for goodness sakes! Don't you realize how wrong that sounds?"

"Mom, that's like saying it's wrong to love me because I'm your daughter," I pointed out.

Mother glared at me. "That's completely besides the point, and no, it is not like saying that. Riley, please. Let's just not talk about this, alright? I've made myself clear, and I don't want to do so again. Get upstairs, get ready for bed, and get to sleep. If you have any nightmares, the door to my room is always unlocked." She turned away from me, out of my arms, and flicked on the T.V. I glared at her pointedly for a second before getting up and heading to the stairs.

"This isn't over," I muttered to myself as I marched right up the stairs into my bedroom. At least, I most certainly hoped that this wasn't over. I was going to make my mother happy either way, whether it was going to be with Edward or not. I was going to do this – for both of us.

* * *

EOC: Whew! I think it's been a while since I updated, but I can't remember. Anyways, I'm thinking about starting a third FanFic off to the side, about my version of post BD events. What do you guys think? The poll is up on my profile for any of you who are interested in that. Also, Twilight the DVD is coming out on March 21st, and I am so reserving my copy of the three-disc special edition (ten COMPLETE deleted scenes and movie commentary from Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart *dies*, and the entire ComiCon without crappy filming and screaming fan girls in every clip). Anyway, out of the newsflash. Thanks, all you guys, for reading, and please review. More reviews, and more chapters are going to start going up quicker. XD From now on, I'll try to respond to all reviews. Until I update next, my friends… – Dark and Wild


	6. Chapter 6

All right, guys. I'm here with a new chapter, finally. Everyone who reviewed thanks a lot. I appreciate the written support. Enjoy this chapter! Edward finds out a lot in this chapter. =] But not from who you think. *GASP* Go find out!

Chapter Song: _Miracle_, By: Paramore

**Chapter 6: Went Through Hell And Back**

X-x-X

_Edward_

"I'll meet you at the theater," Alice said the next morning on her way out the door. She stood up on her tiptoes to kiss me on the cheek. She was trying so hard to show how glad she was that I had returned. I needed to tell her some time in the future that she didn't need to show it any more than she already was. It was good to be back.

Jasper dipped his head to me on the way out, but didn't say a word as he shut the door behind him.

When I had gotten home last night, and had told Alice and Jasper what had happened, he had been angry. I supposed he still was, since he still wasn't talking to me this morning. I didn't really know why he was so angry about this – I knew that Bella was his little sister and that they were very close, but I didn't understand what had happened between them to spur this kind of reaction. I would have to ask him what I had done wrong later on.

I was still eating breakfast when they left, and as soon as they were out the door, I began looking through my written out schedule for today. I was planning to give most of the cast, excluding the chorus and supers, a basic run-down of what would happen over the next few months, and then after lunch I was planning to work with Riley, Seth, Mike Newton, Rosalie, and Ben Cheney with their lead roles. Not exactly a trying day.

So as I drove to the theater, about twenty minutes after Alice and Jasper had left. While I drove, I thought about last night.

Last night, I had discovered a lot about Isabella and her daughter Riley.

For instance, I could see clearly that the two were obviously very close. The way Bella was so protective over her daughter intrigued me. It was easy to see whenever she looked at Riley, with those warm chocolate brown eyes that I think one day I could drown in. She would tense whenever I spoke to Riley directly, as if I were some kind of serial killer. I also noticed that Riley was more easy-going than her mother. Bella was tense practically the whole dinner, while Riley was relaxed and calm as if she had done that sort of this before. It baffled me, and hopefully I would solve the mystery one day.

I knew that Bella was beautiful – hell, her name even meant 'handsome one' or 'beautiful' in Latin and Italian. Her wavy brown hair, her chocolate brown eyes, her pale skin, and her heart-shaped face… they were all I could see zooming down the highway. Riley was just as breathtaking as her mother, though she certainly didn't hold the same attraction (if she did, I'd commit myself to an institution).

I thought about this as I pulled into the theater parking lot, seeing that everyone was here except for Emmett. I was a little excited and nervous about seeing Bella today, and once again I was confused. What was this emotion forming in the pit of my stomach? We hardly knew each other.

I got out of my car, holding a two-inch binder that would serve as my production notes storage. I had nothing else with me, other than a pen in my back pocket and some money for lunch. I felt like I was going back to school again.

I went in the back way, seeing Jasper hunched over a page of lighting notes, probably from Emmett or somebody of the sort. He didn't smile at me in greeting as I passed – he only looked at me coldly and looked back at his notes, flicking through them with his thumb. Once more, I was bewildered by his attitude. I reminded myself that I planned on asking him about it later.

"Edward!" Suddenly Alice was beside me. "Bella is waiting for you upstairs. Forgive me for peeking, but I saw you wanted a meeting with the cast this morning. She has everyone gathered in a business room upstairs. It's the third room down on your left. Can't miss it, I promise. Good luck!" And in that pixyish way, she hugged me and rushed downstairs.

Ah, Alice. What a help she could be at times.

I followed her instructions and headed up the stairs and found the conference room in which the meeting was to take place.

Cast members surrounded the table. Riley was seated near the head of the table, with her mother Bella standing behind her. I hardly noticed anyone else in the room but her, and she looked at me through dull, exhausted eyes. I wondered what had happened, because she looked like a wreck.

"Thank you," I told her, "For gathering everyone here. I appreciate it."

"You're welcome," she said, in a tone sharper than the one I had heard last night. It was almost cold, and it was certainly harsh. "Send Riley to me as soon as the meeting lets out, please." Without another word, she touched her daughter's shoulder gently and went straight out the door. I didn't quite understand her gesture to her daughter. Was it possible that Bella didn't trust me to be around Riley anymore? What had brought all this new emotion on? My gaze went to Riley for an answer.

The fifteen-year old just dipped her head and did her best to ignore my gaze. Something was wrong, and I was going to find out what. But for the mean time, I had a meeting to conduct.

"Alright, so I just want to run through a few names, to make sure we have everyone here," I announced to the table. "Then I just want to go through a rough schedule for these next few months. I know that sounds quite elementary, but I'm new here to the Metropolitan. I'm sure some of you are as well." I glanced at Riley, who flushed and looked down at her hands. "Riley Swan, Anastasia."

"Here." Riley still didn't look up.

"Seth Clearwater, Dimitri."

"Present." The young seventeen-year old boy looked at Riley with a brilliant smile on his tan face. She smiled faintly in return.

"Ben Cheney, Vladimir."

"Here." Ben was an older man, in his early thirties like myself. I remembered him hanging around the business manager, Angela Weber, yesterday.

"Michael Newton, Rasputin."

"Ready to go." Mike offered me a lazy grin.

"Rosalie Hale, Sophie."

"Of course." Rosalie smiled in my direction in a warm, sisterly sort of way, and I returned the favor. She was Emmett's girlfriend, so of course we were on good terms.

I went through the rest of the names of all speaking parts, which turned out that there were over twenty of them. I had figured earlier that the production was going to be large, and this tally only seemed to confirm my suspicions. I wasn't unpleased with this – it just made a tad more nervous than I had been before. "Alright," I began in a business-like manner. "Now, the show is four months from now. We have that long to make this the best damn show Chicago has ever seen. There are seven shows in five days. One on opening night, Thursday, one on Friday, two on Saturday, another two on Sunday, and the last show on Monday. About tickets, you'll have to talk to Miss Angela Weber downstairs, because to be honest I have no idea how that works." I got a few chuckles from around the table.

I went on to explain how I wanted this week to be the start-up week, with mainly principle rehearsals with all the main characters to make sure they get a head start on their major roles. Everyone seemed to be alright with that, at least. The next week was going to be a major songs week, working with the chorus and the leads on the singing and such. I explained the rest and that took about an hour in itself.

By the end of my speech, my throat was getting a little dry and I could tell everyone was getting a little bored. Riley was fiddling with a pencil in front of her, and many others were showing signs of boredom. So, I chose to end the meeting.

"That concludes what I have to say," I announced to everyone. "Riley, Seth, Ben, Rosalie, and Mike, I expect to see you in the house after lunch. As for everyone else, your day is done. Thanks."

Everyone willingly got up and left – and Riley was the last one to leave.

"Riley, could I ask you to stay for a moment?" I asked on a rather last minute impulse, wanting to ask her about her mother's attitude earlier. At knowing how close they were, I figured Riley would probably know something about it.

"Er… sure, Edward. What is it?" So she was still on a first-name basis with me. It made me feel a little more comfortable. I flipped my binder closed and leaned on the table, looking at her curiously. She stood there, looking awkward and a little bit anxious.

"I was wondering about your mother. Is something wrong with her this morning?" I asked gently.

Riley looked as though she had been expecting that question. She kept a straight, calm face as she replied. "My mom just had a bad sleep last night. It doesn't have anything to do with you, if that's what you're asking." I could tell she was lying, and the screwed up expression on her face backed up my assumption.

"Alright, thanks," I answered, getting up and gestured to the door. "I'm sure your mother will be worried when you don't get downstairs with the rest of the cast. Go ahead."

Riley didn't need to be told a second time. She turned around and scurried out the door as if she had just been liberated from prison. I didn't question it - I just watched her go and followed after her.

Bella was waiting at the bottom of the stairs, like a child waiting for their mother to come out of the airport. Riley acted as though this was the norm, and gave her mother a hug as soon as she reached her. I pretended as though I wasn't interested, and went to go find Alice about some costume ideas that I had for some of the characters.

X-x-X

Lunch was an uneventful time, what with Alice taking me out to a Burger King down the road and Bella and Riley staying behind to eat a homemade lunch in Bella's office. I had really wanted to ask them to come with me, but my more rational side had advised against it.

"You are going to love Chicago," Alice said for about the billionth time as we drove back to the theater. "I was thinking about taking you to go see some sort of concert in a few weeks down by Navy Pier."

"That sounds wonderful," I assured her with a small smile. My little sister was so desperate to make me fit in here, to make me feel like I belonged. What she didn't know was that I was planning on staying for a very long time. "Really, Alice, it does. I'm happy to be home."

"Well, I'm happy that you are home. You have no idea how old it's getting every time Emmett calls me shrimp or Barbie. Jasper defends me most of the time, but it just isn't the same, you know?" Alice kept babbling about all the things that were going wrong with her life because I wasn't there, and I merely smiled and let myself think about the days when I had been home, before I had ever even considered leaving my family.

"_Alice. Edward. Could you go get Emmett from outside? Dinner is ready," said our mother, Esme Cullen. To a seven-year old me, she was the most beautiful woman in the world. Nobody could compare – not even Jessica Simpson (who was the subject of my childish fantasies)._

"_Okay, Mommy!" Little Alice cried as she rushed to the screen door. I followed her brightly, a smile on my face._

_Emmett was outside, throwing a baseball at the oak tree in our back yard. He acted like he was playing a real game of baseball. I would have gladly stopped to watch him be silly, but Alice didn't understand and rushed straight to her ten-year old brother, her bright green eyes like ours glowing brightly as she went to him. Emmett didn't pause until Alice was directly in front of him, and he scowled impatiently. _

"_Move, shrimp," he growled. _

"_Mommy says that it's time for dinner!" Alice declared proudly, puffing out her chest. "You have to come inside."_

"_Are you going to make me?" Emmett demanded. _

_Alice paused now, catching on to his venomous tone. She frowned slightly. "No. But Mommy will. It's time for dinner!" She repeated what she had to say, this time a little angrily. _

_Emmett rolled his eyes, and pushed Alice down to the grass with a sneer. "I don't care what time it is. Go play with your baby dolls, shrimp." He smirked and returned to throwing his baseball, only laughing when it bounced off the tree and hit Alice in the back. _

_Little Alice's eyes began to tear up, and she whimpered as she rubbed tears from her eyes. _

_I was angry now. Emmett didn't talk to Alice like that. I marched right up to him, and glared up at his smug ten-year old face. "Don't talk to Ali like that!" I told him sharply. Ali was what I called Alice, and she called me Eddie. "It's mean! Say you're sorry, Emmett!" We didn't give our big brother a nickname, because he was too mean to get one. That was what Alice and I had told each other._

_Emmett just laughed. "Like you're going to do something about it," he snickered. _

_That was it. I scowled, and tackled him straight to the ground. Ten-year old Emmett certainly wasn't as muscular as he was today, but I wasn't much more than scrawny either. We rolled around on the ground, hitting each other angrily. I heard Alice crying somewhere nearby, and then I heard the sharp voice of my mother saying,_

"_Boys! Get off of each other this instant!"_

_I raised my head from our little fight to see Alice running to Esme, and throwing her arms around her mother's leg as she cried. Esme patted Alice's black hair, and glared at Emmett and I. We knew we were in trouble now. _

"_Emmett was being mean to me again!" Alice declared, sticking up for me. "Eddie was telling him to stop, but Emmett wouldn't listen. So Eddie made him listen, Mommy!" She looked up at Esme pleadingly, who looked down at her daughter with soft, evaluating eyes. _

"_That isn't true!" Emmett snapped. "Alice grabbed the ball out of my hand and threw it at the tree, saying that I had to go inside! Then the ball hit her and Edward punched me."_

"_Nuh-uh!" I shouted at him. "Alice told you that dinner was ready and that Mom wanted you to come inside. You didn't listen!"_

"_Boys, stop it this instant," my mother scolded. She looked at both of us with disappointment in her eyes. "I expected better out of both of you. Emmett, I believe Alice. You should listen to your sister, especially when she is telling the truth. Edward, don't punch your brother all because he makes fun of Alice. Get your father, or me and we'll deal with him. Alice, you shouldn't interrupt your brother's game like that. It isn't nice. Come inside, and we'll get you three cleaned up, and then we can have some dinner and see what your father thinks of this."_

_We all followed her into the house. _

"Well, here we are," Alice declared as she turned her car off. "I guess it's time to start up the rehearsal now." She grinned at me.

"So it would seem," I murmured to myself as I got out of the car and shut the door behind me. Alice followed brightly, babbling the entire way up to the backstage door.

"This production is going to be the best," she gushed. "Riley is such an amazing actress – you should have seen her with me at my house. She is absolutely perfect for the show. Oh, and Seth! Aw! What a cutie! I mean, of course I don't mean it in that way, since I'm thirty and he's like fifteen, and that would just plain disgusting… oh, he has been in some of the best shows here! No joke! And Ben? He's really a nice guy, and he's good on stage. Rosalie will do great, because she always does… and with Jasper and Emmett behind the scenes, there is almost no way this thing can go astray!"

Jasper was waiting for her when she got back in. They embraced each other with a hug and a kiss, and afterwards Jasper gave me a cold look that once more made me question what I had done to make him act this way. Bella and Riley were talking behind them, and suddenly I wasn't so concerned with Jasper's acidic attitude anymore.

Bella had just laughed at something Riley had said. She looked younger, happier even. She was beautiful, no less, the way her mahogany hair seemed to shake in time with her head, and the way her brown eyes brightened.

Jasper cleared his throat menacingly, and I looked back at him with a bewildered expression. Angered, and protective brown eyes met mine, and I felt like shrinking on the spot. Sometimes Jasper Swan could be a very intimidating person, even though he was going to be my brother-in-law in a month or two. There was no denying that, at least.

So I dipped me head nervously and went to talk to Bella and Riley.

I caught Bella off guard, but as soon as she saw me, her expression turned anxious and almost afraid. I was a little bit confused by this reaction, but made no comment. Her chocolate brown eyes met my own emerald ones and we were quiet for a split second before I managed to say,

"Er, Bella, do you think you could send someone to round up the other principles? Rehearsal is going to start in ten minutes."

"Of course." She turned to a woman who was passing by (who I recognized as Angela Weber), and said, "Could you find Ben, Seth, Mike, and Rosalie? Rehearsal is going to start soon." Angela nodded and walked away quickly, wasting no time with her task.

"Riley, are you ready?" I asked the fifteen-year old.

She looked back up at me rebelliously and grinned brightly. "You betcha," she answered cheerfully. "Alice spoke to me before lunch about everything, and I've been practicing all through lunch."

"You barely touched your food. People would think you're anorexic," Bella teased her daughter, seeming to momentarily forget my presence. Riley rolled her eyes and nudged her mother playfully in return. I smiled – I was enjoying their playful banter almost as much as they were. I liked seeing both of them this way, with a relaxed manner about them that was practically infectious.

Riley just rolled her eyes. "So what are we going to do?" she asked brightly. It was hard to resist her enthusiasm. "Are we going to rehearse some scenes?"

"Some vital ones, yes," I answered her. "But only after I let you all know when all your special rehearsals are. The five of you will be working very closely over the next few months. I expect you to be in the best shape you can be." Riley nodded cheerfully, seeming to already understand our expectations.

"I can't wait," she confessed.

"Riley." Bella gently took her daughter into her arms and kissed her forehead. "Be careful, and do what Edward tells you as long as it's in reason. I'll be in my office, making some calls." I didn't miss how she glanced at me warily as she said this. "And have fun, honey. I'm proud of you."

Riley seemed to glow as Bella left, and she turned to me.

"It's in the house, right?" she demanded.

I nodded. Riley beamed and skipped off ahead of me, humming the melody to one of the songs in the show. When had Alice given her access to the music selection for this show? The mysteries of my little sister would never end, I concluded. She was Alice, and that was the only explanation that I could provide for myself. I followed after Riley at a slower pace, observing the younger girl with amusement as she practically ran to the stage and sat down on it. I was glad to have her as a lead in the show.

The others arrived briefly after that. I couldn't deny that all of them were prompt in their arrival times, and none of them were late. I was pleased with that and joined the actors and actresses on stage.

"Alright, you five," I addressed them. Everyone turned their attention to me. "You will all need to work the hardest and work the longest, but of course I think you already knew that. Today, I was thinking of just reading through a couple of crucial scenes. Just a read-through, nothing special about it. I'll make a few comments here or there, and by tomorrow I expect you all to have at least half your script highlighted with entrances, lines, or anything that involves you or you getting ready. Homework sounds like it's for children, but for now just do as I say."

I heard no resistance, though I did see Riley frown at the mention of homework and children. I smiled slightly to myself as I sat down, and the others joined me. On one side I had Rosalie, and on the other side Riley. The others were oriented around the three of us, forming a tiny circle.

"Perfect," I said, pleased with their responsiveness. "The first scene I want read is with Seth, Ben, and Riley. Don't pay attention to entrances of chorus or anything like that – just keep on reading until I tell you to stop. Got it?" I got collective nods from the three of them, and they began.

(A/N: Alright, so since I didn't want to do much with descriptions, I'm just going to have the lines. Each has a certain style to it. **Bold** lines are **Dimitri's/Seth's **lines. _Italicized _lines are Anastasia's/Riley's lines. Lastly, underlined lines are Vlad's/Ben's lines. 'Kay? Kay.)

**Look, hold on a minute. Don't run out so soon. You say you want to go to Paris?**

_Yes. That's the reason I'm here. Can you help me or not?_

That depends, child. What are you looking for, in Paris?

_Well, um… I'd have to say a future. And my family._

**Family?**

_Yeah. I mean, I haven't exactly had a family since I was like eight, and I can't remember anything before then about my family. The only clue I have is this necklace, that says 'Together in Paris'. Why, gentlemen? Is this a problem?_

Well, we are-

**I don't think we can help you. Our third ticket to Paris is reserved for a very famous, long lost princess. And frankly miss, you don't fit the role.**

(In an undertone) Dimitri, my boy, what are you doing? She needs a ticket to Paris.

**(In return) Look Vlad, everything will play right into our hands. All we need is the girl, and we're set for those ten million Rupees. Just relax for a minute.**

_What are you two vultures squawking about? Can you get me to Paris or not?_

"Alright, alright," I told them, waving my hands idly for them to stop. "That was good. Riley, speak up a bit when you say your lines. Other than that, you were excellent. Seth, I need you to stop making Dimitri sound like this honest guy. He's a con artist who's trying to pull the biggest scam in the history of the world. Ben, you're doing well, but make Vlad sound just a bit wiser. He's who Dimitri turns to for advice." I was here to be a director, and that was what I was doing. I was completely in the mood now.

"Of course, now I'm going to need Riley, Seth, and Mike turn to pages 74 in your scripts and start where Anastasia says, 'So you're the one who I've been having nightmares about'," I said instructively.

They did as I asked and began. (**Bold **for **Dimitri**, _Italicized_ for _Anastasia_, _**Bold and Italicized **_for_** Rasputin**_.)

_So you're the one I've been having nightmares about._

_**It is a pride, and a pleasure, my dear. You see, when the evil of the world gives you power, you naturally take it. And what better way to do it than use it on you?**_

_What are you talking about? Why have you been doing this to me?_

_**Ha! I'm surprised you don't remember, child. Don't you recall that splendid evening out on the ice, after the fire in the palace? After you saw your father and mother die?**_

_You're… no, you can't be. You're not…_

_**Rasputin? The very same, girl. I'm glad you decided to join me out here tonight. What a lovely night sky, don't you think? It's too bad that it'll be the last you ever see.**_

_What do you mean?_

_**I mean what you think it means, of course. You. Will. Die.**_

**No! Anya, get away from him!**

_**Ah, and who is this? Someone to save you?**_

_Don't you dare hurt him!_

"Good. Stop," I ordered. The three reading looked at me with questions and curiosity in their eyes. "Riley, that was much better. But for this scene, you'll need a little more spunk for the character. Anastasia is a very tough girl. Seth, that's better. The honesty works this time. Mike, you're doing well. Make him sound a bit more evil, though, would you?"

All three nodded at my instructions. I even saw Riley take out a pen from her pocket and began writing down notes on the back of her script. I could tell that she and I would get along quite well.

"I'm now going to ask Seth, Ben, and Rosalie to read a bit for me on page 55, the scene where Sophie finds out that this is a con. Start at the top of the page, please." (**Bold** for **Dimitri**. _Italicized _for _Sophie_. Underlined for Vlad. Beginning to see a pattern here? XD) They nodded and began.

_I cannot believe that you have actually 'ave done zis!_

Sophie, love, you know we mean no harm to the queen herself.

_Ah, but Vlad me darling, you 'ave forgotten what ze queen 'az gone through! She 'az zeen far too many Anastasias. She will not zee anozer._

**All you have to do is get us a few moments with the duchess. That's all we need. Believe me when I say that she really is Anastasia. At least, Vlad and I think so. Please, can you at least get us in with her for a few moments?**

Yes, Sophie. Isn't there anything you can do?

_You two 'ave been around far too long to know zat I 'ave a zoft zpot for this little girl you 'ave brought. But ze duchess will not put up with any more of zese cons._

**Sophie, don't you see? I think this girl could really fit the role. All we want is for the duchess to be happy.**

_But ze duchess will not 'appy until you 'ave brought ze real Anastasia. _

Love, but we must see the duchess. Our Anya has been searching for family, and this is her last chance. We haven't come this far to let her down now.

"Alright!" I was smiling now. Rosalie's superior French accent was marvelous, and I had the feeling that she was perfect for this role. I was very happy that I had found her. "Rosalie, that was great. Seth, good work. You hit the nail on that last line, but watch it a bit. Ben, you're doing good with Vlad. Excellent tone there in your last line."

I stood now, and they looked at me, puzzled. I smiled gently. "In reality, that's all I wanted. I just needed to see your skill level, and see what you five need to improve on. Tomorrow is when the real work begins. It's a half chorus rehearsal for the beginning. Riley, you won't be needed, but rehearse with someone in case we decide to have another read-through of a few scenes. Got it? Dismissed."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Seth wink at Riley, who blushed and walked swiftly off stage. Gazing after her, I decided to follow. With curt nods at all four of the others, I walked straight after her backstage where Alice had obviously been listening in on the read-through.

"Oh my G-d, you were so amazing? Damn, I wish I could have acted like that when I was younger. You have talent, honey. You have talent," Alice was gushing when I got back there.

Riley's face went a bright, candy-apple red. "Thanks, Aunt Alice," she said quietly. "I'm going to find Mom now." She rushed off, graceful as she went straight to her mother's office. I didn't follow her this time, but instead turned my attention to my beaming little sister.

"Oh, Edward," she sighed, throwing her arms around me. Her pixie arms were hardly long enough to stretch around my waist. "I'm so glad you came to do this show. Sales are going to go straight through the roof with you here! Why did I get such a genius for a big brother?" She sighed again.

I laughed, untangling myself from her practically suffocating hug. "Alice, I'm no genius. I just know what I'm doing."

"Edward?" came a tentative but deep voice from behind me.

I turned. Jasper was standing behind me, looking a bit uncomfortable as he gazed sharply at me. It looked as though he was sizing me up, in case something came to a fight.

"Yes?" I responded as lightly as I could. "What is it, Jasper?"

"I need to talk to you about something." Jasper's voice when cold and hard as he said this. I could practically feel Alice tense up behind me, as if something bad was going on here. "There's something you need to know before you get too involved here…"

"Jazz!" Alice hissed. "You can't just-"

"I'm not going to tell him everything – just the basic gist of what he missed, alright?" Jasper responded smoothly, unbothered by Alice's protests.

That was when I knew that something big was going on here – something big that I didn't know about. There was some big secret behind somebody that nobody had told me. There was also a feeling, a gut-rooted feeling, that this secret had something to do with Bella and Riley – the subjects to my interest. I had the feeling that Jasper was about to give me a vague reason as to why the two were so close.

I heard Alice sigh behind me in defeat, and I heard her high heels as she walked away.

Jasper turned his sharp brown eyes on me and gestured that we go outside into the cooling autumn air to discuss whatever this was. I agree silently and followed him out, putting my hands into my jacket pocket and observing Jasper carefully as he turned around to face me. His expression was hard and irritated as he began speaking.

"I want you to stop looking at my little sister like that," Jasper told me sharply.

It took me a moment to remember that Jasper was Bella's older brother. But then I looked at him questioningly, not sure of what he was speaking of. "What are you talking about?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows in confusion.

"I see the way you look at her." Oh. That. "I see the way you watch every move she makes like some kind of vulture waiting to descend," Jasper snapped. "And I want it to stop. Don't think about doing anything with her."

"Why not?" I demanded in return, frowning in confusion. "Bella can choose whatever man she wants."

"Yeah? Well, she hasn't done such a great job with that in the past, so now it's time that I started looking out for her and my niece. Stay away from her, Edward," Jasper snarled defensively.

"What do you mean?"

"I just mean that Bella doesn't have a good past with men. She has gone through hell and back without a blink, and Riley has suffered the price of all of our mistakes. So somebody needs to step up and start protecting them. That somebody is going to be me, so don't even think about going near her. Am I being clear?" Jasper demanded in a fiery manner, eyeing me with his brown eyes as if he were about to rip my face off.

"I understand," I murmured in return, still confused. Jasper snarled underneath his breath, being truly intimidating, and stalked off back into the theater. I didn't follow him.

I had to piece together this very confusing puzzle.

* * *

EOC: Ah, finally! The end of another chapter. I hope you all liked this one, the aftermath of the dinner. How did you all like Jasper's big brother-ness? I've mapped out next chapter, and hopefully I'll update soon. Don't forget that there is a poll on my profile about a new FanFiction. And I would also like to recommend the Vampire Academy series for anyone who enjoys vampires and that sort of stuff. Excellent reads. The first is called _Vampire Academy_, the second is _Frostbite_, and the third is _Shadow Kiss_. I just finished the third one and I cried three times. THREE TIMES!!! And I don't cry for anything. Until next time!


	7. Chapter 7

'Kay, so this was quite an eventful time period. I'm on costume crew for the school musical and we were sewing cookie costumes! Thanks to all who reviewed and to all who added this story to their alerts/favorites lists. Every time I update this FanFic, I get about five or six more e-mails telling me that more and more people are adding it to their alerts or favorites lists. It makes me really happy, guys, that you enjoy the story so much. I just saw _Push_ as I am writing this intro, and that movie was damn confusing. =] Anyways, on with the story.

I would also like to remind every one that I do **not** own the Twilight enterprise/franchise. That's Stephenie Meyer, guys. I'm just having fun with the characters.

Chapter Song: _I Caught Myself_, By: Paramore (Yes, I realize that this is a song on the Twilight Motion Picture Soundtrack. But it fits this chapter perfectly.)

**Chapter 7: No Turning Back**

X-x-X

_Bella_

"G-d damned it, Riley!" Emmett exclaimed as he threw his Wii guitar onto the couch in our living room. "That was the third fucking time in a row!"

"Emmett, language!" I snapped at him.

This was meant to be a little gathering. Thursday and Friday morning seemed to pass in a blur. Now it was Friday evening, and everyone was over at Riley's and my house. It was sort of a tradition for our broken, non-related family that on every Friday and Saturday night, we got together to have a little bit of fun. Alice, Jasper, Emmett, Rosalie, Riley, and myself were all crowded into our small living room to watch Riley and Emmett 'battle it out' on Guitar Hero. Dinner was finished, and now we were all just sort of lounging around.

The only one missing was Edward.

I had asked Alice where he was when she and Jasper had first arrived (Jasper wasn't pleased that I had asked about Edward). Alice had explained that he was off seeing their mother and father – Esme and Carlisle Cullen. I wasn't deeply concerned about his absence, but it had just been a stray thought in my mind all evening.

Everyone laughed at Emmett's failure – even Rosalie. She gave him a quick kiss on the lips when he came to sit with her, pouting in a childish sort of way.

Riley was grinning, still holding her guitar in a proud manner. "Alright, who wants to challenge me now?" she asked boldly, puffing out her chest proudly. There was a brief pause around the living room when Jasper finally stood up with a serene smile on his face.

"I'll face you Riley," he volunteered. Alice cheered and slapped him lightly on his back as her fiancé went to stand by my daughter. He grabbed the guitar off the couch and strapped it over his shoulder. Riley grinned at him, winked, and began choosing the next song. I smiled as I watched my daughter perform in her own little world. For her, this was heaven. She was surrounded by people that loved her, with a game that she could play all day long and not get bored of.

Ever since she had been born, I had wanted what was best for her. I had wanted her to feel as though nothing could go wrong. She seemed perfectly happy in this state, with her family and her games. She enjoyed this, and I enjoyed watching her have fun. Any mother liked watching their children enjoy themselves – it was like a maternal instinct to make their child happy. But now, looking on the little scene, I realized that there was one thing missing from this piece of perfect heaven.

Riley needed a father.

Certainly, she didn't need a father like James, Laurent, or Jacob. They were horrible men, as they had showed. Riley needed someone who would step in for her whenever things got rough. I did that already, but she needed a father to do that. I knew that she loved me for what I was, and that I loved her in return, it was just that… she needed a father who could take her into his arms at night and croon her to sleep, a father that would protect her from any threat, and a father who would actually be physically able to play soccer with her out in our back yard without tripping over something that didn't exist.

It was coincidental that these thoughts happened to occur to me right as I realized again that Edward wasn't here. Or was it?

Alice seemed to see my expression from the couch. She stood and bounced over to where I stood, taking my hand like she always did when she wanted to talk to me in private. As discreetly as possible, I nodded. Alice led me into our kitchen that was relatively quiet besides the faint hammering of guitars and drums from the television.

"What's going on?" Alice demanded in that bossy voice she used whenever she wanted information. "You've been looking like that all night. Is something wrong?"

"I'm not sure," I confessed.

Alice frowned in bewilderment. She didn't like being confused, and confusion was also a very rare state of mind for her. She was very intuitive, and hardly ever missed a thing. Something I had said puzzled her. "What do you mean?" she asked sharply. Her green eyes bore into my brown ones mercilessly, and again for the hundredth time that night I was reminded of Edward.

"Once again, I don't know," I admitted truthfully. "Can't you read my mind or something? I can't put my feelings into words."

Alice snorted. "That's Edward's job," she scoffed. "He's like a psychic. When we were kids, Edward and I used to think that we had super powers. He could always tell what I was thinking, and I almost always knew what his next move would be. But like I said, I can't read minds. You're going to have to try and explain it to me. Out with it, woman."

I rolled my eyes and sat down at the kitchen table. Alice remained standing; her eyes on me in a hawk-like gaze that made me feel uncomfortable.

"Well, I don't know what's going on," I repeated for emphasis. Alice wasn't satisfied with this and rolled her eyes like I had seconds before. "I keep thinking about how Edward isn't here and how Riley needs a father… I don't know why these thoughts are clicking together _now_, of all times. I mean, I always knew Riley needed someone like a father in her life, but… I never actually thought about it until now. I've been feeling weird all night, you know? Like something isn't right." I really wasn't good with explaining things, and I never lied to my dearest friend Alice.

She was my main confidante, considering, as Jasper was overly protective of me every time I tried to tell him something. So Alice and I never lied to one another, and we never kept secrets. With anyone else, I would have felt awkward revealing this information. I could tell that my unsure thoughts were showing in the expression on my face.

This comment, however, seemed to make Alice grin from ear to ear. That was an expression that I had learned to be afraid of.

"Bella, do you know what this means?" Alice asked, her lips pursed.

I frowned. "What?"

"You're in _love_!" she squealed. Wrapping her tiny little arms around my neck, she pecked my cheek in that girly kind of way – the way best friends did whenever they hadn't seen each other in a long, long while. "You're in love with my big brother Edward! Oh, Bella, this is so great. You can't even begin to imagine how amazing-"

"Hold your horses for just a second. Wait scratch that. Your horses should have never left the station in the first place. What are you thinking, Alice?" I demanded.

Alice considered her response. She was a good debater, and usually took time with her answers. I awaited her verdict, but if it had anything to do with having feelings for her brother that I hardly knew, I would have to argue with her. Edward and I were coworkers, nothing more. We'd only been working with each other for a few days, so it shouldn't have been that big of a deal anyway. Everyone was so convinced that I was falling in love, even though I'd hardly known this man (who, might I add, would be my brother-in-law in a few months).

"Bells, it's time you settled down. Surely you see how we're all looking at this?" Alice began pacing restlessly. "Edward needs a woman in his life. You need a man. Riley needs a father. See, there's an equation forming here. And you know what it is? It isn't an inequality, but it has a one-number solution. There's an equal sign between the three. Don't you see where I'm going with this?"

"Alice, all because _you_ want us to get together doesn't automatically mean that we're going to get together. You can't play Cupid," I told her.

"But remember in seventh grade when I did play Cupid? That was a great play."

I rolled my eyes. She wasn't seeing the point here. "Alice, I can't possibly have feelings for Edward. He's… he's just a coworker. And I'm doing just fine with Riley by myself. I'm not a helpless damsel."

"I never said you were," Alice pointed out. "But look at it like this. Have you ever seen Riley and Edward work together?" She eyed me curiously, an eyebrow rose as she awaited my answer. I considered this for a brief moment.

"No," I admitted.

Alice smirked. "See, now I have," she proclaimed brightly, perching herself on my counter now. She began fiddling with a drawer, opening it and closing it absentmindedly as she gazed intently at me. "While they were working on stage today, and Edward came up to help her with a few things, I felt something click in my brain. I watched them, and I finally noticed it. The way they are together, well, it just looked so _natural_. Like a father teaching a daughter how to properly punch someone."

I frowned, taking this into consideration. Alice knew that if there were any way to convince me, it would be through Riley. My daughter whom I loved so much. "But… Alice, I don't feel that way for him," I said quietly, burying my face in my hands. "I'm not ready."

"Not yet, honey," Alice comforted me, suddenly at my side. She wrapped an arms around my shoulders and helped me to my feet. "But trust me on this, okay? Talk to Riley about it tonight. I guarantee that if you get to know him outside the theater, you'll grow to love him." She kissed me on the cheek in that sisterly kind of way and led me back to the living room, where a proud Riley had just beaten Jasper.

So I took her advice. I waited until everyone had left, until Riley and I were sitting on the couch together like we sometimes did, sitting there in comfortable silence.

"Riley?" I asked, my voice breaking through the silence like a carving knife. Riley raised her head from my lap, where she had been falling asleep, and blinked at me groggily. Without waiting for a response, I sighed and ran my hands through my hair. "What do you think of Edward? I mean, what do you think I should do about him?"

Riley blinked again, yawning and curling herself up at my side, her head tucked in the crook of my neck, her cheek resting on my shoulder. "I really like him, Mom. I think you do too. I think you two should go somewhere together," she suggested sleepily, her voice sounding like a yawn more than anything. I knew she was tired, but I wanted to talk with her about this before we went to bed.

"Really?" I questioned.

I felt Riley nod against my skin. She yawned again. "I mean, he's really nice and he means what he says. And I don't think he's broken a promise once. Mom, he's a good guy. I want you to be happy more than anything though, so it's your decision," she remarked.

Her words struck a chord in my mind, and a sudden determination flowed through me. I decided that I would ask him to go to dinner with me at the get-together tomorrow, which Alice had announced would be over at her and Jasper's house. I would have to make sure she was coming. For now, though, sleep was definitely in order for both my daughter and me. I hugged her shoulders and kissed the side of her head in a motherly sort of way. Riley didn't seem to acknowledge it, and yawned once more.

"Come on, sleepyhead," I urged her. "You need to get to bed."

She was already asleep, so I carried her up the stairs and laid down with her in my own bed. If only she knew how much I cared for her.

X-x-X

"Riley?" was the first word out of my mouth when I woke up the next morning.

My daughter was curled up against me, her eyes shut tightly. Her death-grip on my arm was what had awakened me. Her legs were twitching too, so I assumed that she was having a nightmare. She whimpered in her sleep, and I shook her shoulder gently to wake her.

"Riley?" I repeated worriedly.

She woke with a start, releasing me as her eyes flew open and she shot up into a sitting position. Sweat streaked her skin and her chocolate brown eyes were wide in terror. I watched her anxiously, gently touching her shoulder to alert her of my presence. She turned her head to look at me, and I was suddenly caught in the terror of her expression. But as soon as she saw me, she let out a sigh of relief and fell back into the pillows. She covered her face with her hands.

"I'm sorry if I woke you up," she grumbled.

"Oh, honey, that's okay." With a quick glance to the clock, I smiled. "It was about time we got up anyway. A nightmare, I'm guessing?"

Riley nodded and groaned. "About James. Again."

I frowned in worry. Out of all her nightmares, she dreamt about James the most. It worried me, of course, since I was probably the reason she dreamt about him anyway. I wrapped her in my arms and sighed. Riley didn't object as some teenagers might, and just remained silent as I cradled her in my arms protectively. "You know I won't ever let anything happen to you," I assured her.

"I know," she answered. "You've told me that on numerous occasions. Can I go take a shower?"

I released her instantly. "Of course, honey. Go get washed up. I'll make some breakfast, okay?" She nodded and climbed out of bed to go to her room and gather some clothes. I watched her go and got changed into a pair of designer Old Navy jeans I had gotten from Alice for Christmas last year. I pulled on one of my favorite blue sweaters and headed down to the kitchen. I opened up the window to let some fresh air into the house.

As soon as my head cleared from the fresh morning air, my thoughts instantly went to what I was planning to do today. I was going to ask Edward to go on a date with me. My cheeks turned pink at the very thought of it, and I almost lost all of my courage. It wasn't hard to see that I was scared.

It wasn't that I was scared of rejection. I was scared of dating again. What if Edward turned into some kind of psycho, and he hurt Riley just like my past boyfriends had hurt her? What if he hurt me? What if he moved back to Chicago because he was wanted for mass murder back in California? The 'what if' questions circled around my mind like vultures waiting to strike.

When Riley came downstairs to eat her breakfast, she looked like a bright person. She was wearing her favorite outfit – dark denims and a black shirt with a neon Mickey Mouse on it. I had bought it for her a few months ago at Navy Pier when she had been eyeing it in one of the stores. She wore it whenever we were going over her Uncle Jasper's house.

She grinned at me as she sat down at the table.

"Are you really going to ask Edward out today?" she asked excitedly as I set her plate of eggs in front of her. I frowned.

Damn, she had remembered our conversation from last night.

Well, I supposed that it was only to be expected. I sighed, running my fingers through my hair as I sat down across from her with my own breakfast in front of me. I wasn't really surprised, but I didn't really want to talk about it right now. "Yeah, I am," I informed her in a soft tone. I felt Riley pat my arm, and when I looked up, she was looking at me and smiling brightly.

"That's great, Mom," she told me whole-heartedly. "I'm glad, I really am. I can't wait to see his reaction."

_You can't wait for him to push me away?_ I thought bitterly. Riley seemed to read the expression on my face, and she frowned in disdain.

"Mom, if he turns you down, he doesn't know what he's missing. He'd be on my permanent Hate List," she announced proudly. Riley's frown turned back into a smile as she began shoveling food into her mouth. She ate like her father.

"_Whoa, Bells, this is great. You cook awesome for a pregnant woman," James teased me as he shoveled his dinner into his mouth. Charlie and Jasper were out for the night, doing some weird kind of father-son type of thing. James had offered to come and spend some time with me, so I had made him dinner._

_I elbowed him playfully. "That's not really nice," I teased him._

"_Well, that baby putting itself in your stomach wasn't so nice either," he answered, his voice sounding as playful as mine. He smiled towards me, but I frowned. My hand instinctively went to my swollen stomach where our baby girl was growing. _

"_Don't say that," I answered. "You'll hurt her feelings."_

"_What, the kid's? Yeah, right. It can't even hear me," James replied._

_This was the main thing that we didn't agree on. I had learned to accept that I was pregnant, and since Charlie proclaimed himself a Christian, I wasn't allowed to get an abortion. Not that I really wanted one. James had been pushing for one though, and he had told me that he didn't want me being a mother so young. He'd constantly tell me that he was sorry for having sex with me on my seventeenth birthday, but I continually forgave him. It happened._

I laughed at my daughter lightly. "You actually have a hate list?" I asked jokingly.

Riley frowned, and she didn't find this funny at all. "Of course I do," she announced. "You could probably guess who's on it."

Yes, sadly I could.

X-x-X  
_Edward_

"I can't wait until tonight!" Alice sang as she finished her hot dog from the stand just down the pier from where we were sitting.

Jasper had stayed home to clean the house (he was the only male I knew that actually took the time to clean his own house), and Alice had taken me out to Navy Pier for lunch and a little bit of clothes shopping. She had declared that my wardrobe from California simply didn't fit the Chicago scene, so I had grudgingly agreed to go with her to buy some clothes. We had about three bags.

"What's tonight?" I asked confusedly.

Alice regarded me for a moment as if I were insane. Then she blinked and smiled. "I forgot, you weren't there last night. Tonight, we're having another get-together at our house. That's why Jasper stayed behind to clean the house. The party pooper." She frowned at this thought. "Anyways, everyone's going to be there. It'll be like a party!"

"What kind of party?" I questioned, and I couldn't help but think that Bella would be there tonight.

"Well, since we don't have a Wii like Bella and Riley, a dancing party!" Alice exclaimed. "Just the six – oh, well, since you're here… seven – of us. Sometimes Emmett drinks beer and goes all out karaoke. It's a lot of fun. Riley dances a lot, and it's fun to watch her. Bella normally just stands off to the side, so maybe you could keep her company tonight?" She rose an eyebrow suggestively. I shook my head and fiddled with the shake she had bought me. I remembered my conversation with Jasper a few days ago.

"What? Why not?" she demanded, sticking out her bottom lip in a pout.

"Jasper talked to me," I confessed. I wasn't going to lie to my little sister, because I trusted her with the truth. "He told me to stay away from Bella."

Alice scowled. "He did not," she growled lethally under her breath. I instantly felt sorry for Jasper, because I knew she was going to yell at him when we got home. "Well, don't listen to him. I remember it now, and I'm pretty sure he told you something about Bella. Well, whatever you know, that's exactly the reason you need to spend time with her tonight. What Jasper said to you about staying away from her and all that bull shit, ignore it."

"What did happen to Bella? He wasn't specific," I probed.

Alice frowned at him. "Edward, that isn't my business to tell you. Bella will have to tell you when she's ready. Just know that she is fragile in her view of men. She and her daughter have been through a lot together. But because she's been through a lot, I want her to be happy. And I think to do that, she's going to need a man. You."

"So you're playing matchmaker?" I asked skeptically.

She scowled at me and slapped me on the arm. "No, I'm trying to make you both happy. Shut up, and finish that milk shake. Everyone will be over soon, and we have to stop by the supermarket on the way home to pick up groceries for the cookout."

We did as she said, and by the time we got home, Emmett's huge Jeep was already in the driveway.

"Eddie!" Emmett exclaimed as soon as I walked in. He was sitting on the couch with Rosalie, an arm draped around her shoulders. In his hand was a beer. Alice looked at me knowingly, and I smiled. Emmett was drunk already.

"Don't call me that," I answered irritably. Even though he was drunk, the nickname from our childhood annoyed me. "Where's Bella and Riley? Shouldn't they be here too?"

"They're always the last ones to get here," Rosalie informed me as Alice flitted to the kitchen with her bag of groceries. "Bella normally takes Riley somewhere before they come here. Some kind of mother-daughter bonding time, I guess. Not they need much bonding. Those two are tighter than a pair of jeans."

"You can't blame them," came Jasper's voice from the kitchen. Suddenly Bella's older brother was in the doorway. "They've been through a lot." His eyes flickered to me, and I frowned, remembering Alice's advice about ignoring his.

"I never said they weren't," Rosalie protested.

"Of course you didn't babe," Emmett cooed, planting a huge kiss on her cheek. Rosalie, Jasper, Alice, and I laughed at his drunk antics. Right as we were laughing, someone rang the doorbell.

Alice flitted to the door. "Go get dressed into something proper," she hissed at me, and I looked down at myself. What was wrong with my outfit. Rolling my eyes, I took my new clothes upstairs to the spare bedroom where I was staying. I could still hear what was going on downstairs though, as I pulled on my new jeans and my new shirt.

"We're not late, are we?" I heard Riley ask.

"Of course not," came Alice's voice.

"Is Edward here?" I heard Bella say.

Unexpected butterflies flitted around my stomach at that statement. Why had she asked about me? Did she want me here? Did she want me gone? The curiosity was eating at my stomach like a parasite, and suddenly was dying to go down and see what was going on. So I hurriedly pulled on the rest of my clothing and started heading for the stairs. As I descended down to the main floor, I heard Alice answer,

"Yeah. He's getting dressed. You look very nice, Bella."

As soon as I rounded the corner, I saw exactly what my little sister meant.

Bella was beautiful. She was wearing these hip-hugging dark denim jeans that clung to her waist. Her top was a deep hyacinth blue, a ruffled blouse that was a one-shoulder top. The sleeves went down to her elbows, showing the rest of the pale white skin of her long arms. She was wearing silver diamond earrings, and black ballet flats. She was beautiful, and there was no other word to describe it, really.

Riley looked nice too. She was wearing a similar outfit to her mother's though she had a red sleeveless blouse instead. She didn't look nearly as breathtaking as her mother.

Something in my expression made a flash of red spread across Bella's skin. It made me smile.

"Hello, Bella," I said to her quietly. She smiled at me.

"Hello, Edward," she answered softly.

"Hey, Edward!" Riley greeted me too, thrusting her hand out in front of her as if we had just met. I took her hand and shook it. I wonder if her mother had the same, smooth, soft texture to her skin that Riley did. I had no attraction for the young girl, of course, but I couldn't help but compare her to her mother.

"Now it's a party!" we all heard Emmett slur from the living room. I heard Rosalie laugh, and clinking from the kitchen where Jasper probably was.

Alice smiled at Bella and I and took Bella's hand. She led her best friend into the living room cheerfully, and Riley and I had no choice but to follow. Alice led us all to sit down and we all did so, making ourselves comfortable. I didn't notice how Alice and Riley seemed to take up the last two single chairs in the room, and Alice frowned in fake apology.

"I hope you two don't mind sitting on the loveseat," she said apologetically, her eyes going to the one seat left for Bella and I to sit on. I sent her a meaningful glare, and I was shocked to find Bella doing the same exact thing. Something about our expressions made Riley giggle and clap her hands over her mouth when her mother sent her a look. Bella turned her head to look at me, a blush across her cheeks.

"You don't mind, do you?" she asked softly.

"Of course not," I answered politely, doing everything I could to not show how secretly pleased I was about us sitting together. If Bella saw how happy I was about this, she would probably get scared and run off.

We sat together, and as soon as we did so, it felt like an electric current was running through the pair of us – through our bodies. I did everything I could to not take her hand or touch her. We were both scooted as far away from each other as possible, both of us a little awkward in this situation. Conversation started up around us, but neither of us said much.

It was about an hour before Jasper came in to call us out to the patio for dinner. In that time, Bella and I had gradually gotten closer, and now the bare skin of our arms was touching.

Bella and I were reluctant to get up, but Bella said, "Edward could I talk to you for a moment alone?"

"Of course," I answered, bewildered. What could she possibly have to say to me? It had something to do with Alice and Riley. I knew this because Alice looked as happy as she could be as she bounced out the door to her fiancé, and Riley winked at her mother and gave her thumbs up. I had the feeling that there was a conspiracy going on around me.

As soon as everyone had cleared the room, including a bellowing Emmett who had randomly began singing Linkin Park songs out loud to the world, Bella looked down at her feet, looking exceedingly uncomfortable.

"Bella, is something wrong?" I asked anxiously.

"No, no. Nothing's wrong," she said quickly. When she looked back up at me, her face was a bright candy apple red. "Well, I was wondering…" She paused for such a long time that I wondered if she would continue. "I was wondering, you know, if you'd like to go to dinner tomorrow or something. At Navy Pier, maybe. I just thought that I'd like to get to know you a little bit, but if you don't want to go, I perfectly understand. I mean, Alice sort of talked me into this, but I really do want to get to know you and-"

"Bella, you're rambling," I reminded her, and Bella instantly closed her mouth and looked at the ground again in embarrassment.

"I understand," she mumbled quietly as she tried to move past me. I gently put my hand on her shoulder, and she jumped, startled by the contact. Her beautiful chocolate brown eyes gazed back at me for a moment, some kind of grief in her eyes that made my heart break.

"Bella, I wasn't going to say no," I told her quietly. "I would love to get to know you better. Of course I would like to go to dinner with you. The offer was simply unexpected."

She blinked, taking that in. I smiled when she did, and she looked so relieved that my smile turned into a grin.

We were going to do this. There was no turning back now.

* * *

EOC: Ooh! How did you like that chapter, guys? A little shorter than last chapter, but I had to finish it so I could get out to all of you. I'm really happy with myself, because this chapter turned out better than I expected. Also, I would like to ask you a question. Since I've been kind of lazy about updating, I was wondering if you guys would like something special in penance or something. Because I've been writing this excerpt from later on in the story that's really exciting and awesome, and I sort of want to share it with you. If you review, tell me what you think. Do you want me to post something exciting from later on in the story? Huh? Huh? Huh? XD Tell me, please! Thanks for reading, and I'll update soon (if you want me to post the exciting thing), Dark and Wild.

Also, I apologize for any typos. I wrote this chapter fast so I could get it done, lol.


	8. Chapter 8

So here's the next chapter of Three Wrongs Make A Right, and I'm really happy about the response I'm getting. More and more people are adding this story to their favorites or alert lists. A lot has happened since I last updated. For instance, we had Senior Night for the band at our last pep band of the year, and we found out that we're going to Orlando, Florida next year for a Disney St. Patrick's Day Parade. Isn't that so awesome you could just burst? We're all really excited, and I tell myself every day that I'm going to Disney next year. That'll be my highlight for the next twelve months. As well as the fact that by the time I actually _go_ to Disney, New Moon will be in theaters. Anyways, I've babbled more than normal, so it's only right to give you the next chapter.

Chapter Song: _Alive_, By: Becki Ryan

**Chapter 8: Burning Like A Fire**

X-x-X

_Bella_

"Are you sure about this?" I questioned, as I looked myself over in the mirror. My eyes were full of terror as I looked down at myself, and I couldn't believe that I had actually agreed to let Alice of all people dress me up.

"Of course I'm sure. When have I ever led you wrong?" Alice demanded, sounding offended.

"Right now," I grumbled as I turned around to see the back of my dress again.

Yes, a _dress_. Alice had informed me at lunch today that she and Jasper had reserved seats on the most extravagant dinner boat in town, called _The Spirit_. She and Jasper were coming with us, which was a bit reassuring for me. Even though I was a little bit unsure leaving Riley in _Emmett_'s care for the night, Alice and Jasper had assured me that he had plenty of Wii games ready for her, and that Rosalie was off with her parents on dinner so there would be no chance that Riley's innocent eyes would be burned out of her head.

The dress Alice had stuck me in was hyacinth blue just like the sweater I had worn yesterday, but in a darker shade. She'd chosen that color because last night at the cookout, Edward had complimented it after I had asked him to dinner with me. It was a halter-top dress that revealed most of my back. Alice was going to provide me with a white half-sweater to wear over it so my shoulders wouldn't freeze. It was fairly low cut, so Alice had played it up by providing me with a push-up bra. The dress had its share of ruffles at the bottom, but I wasn't particularly concerned about the dress (though I will admit I had many doubts).

I was concerned about the shoes.

Of course Alice had bought me the most expensive pair of stiletto heels she could find. I had been all for wearing my favorite ballet flats, but my best friend had insisted that those were not suitable for a nice dinner with Edward. She had said that if I tripped over myself, Edward would be there to catch me.

Basically, I'd have to have him glued to my side for the entire evening.

Riley was waiting downstairs with her Uncle Jasper and Uncle Emmett. Emmett was here because he was waiting to take her away to his place for the night. And since it was a Sunday, I wouldn't be seeing my daughter until rehearsal tomorrow. Which, of course, worried me a little bit. But I knew I could trust Emmett to protect her and keep her safe at his place, so that at least was a comfort to me.

I was about to get up when Alice pushed me back down onto the bed. "Hang on!" she exclaimed impatiently. "I need to finish your make-up, Bella!"

She reached into her bag to pull out her lavish make-up kit and I was instantly nervous. But I allowed her to dab foundation all over my face, and brush blush across my cheeks. She even applied a bit of lip-gloss to "perk up my already beautiful lips" she had said.

"Now you're just dashing, Bells," she complimented me as she helped me to my feet. I looked down at the stiletto death traps with contempt, but I knew that I'd have to master the art of walking in them if I even had a hope of being with Edward on a boat tonight. Alice smiled and took my hand. "Come on," she encouraged me. "Let's go and show your daughter what a pretty woman you are."

I blushed and allowed her to lead me down the stairs.

Riley was sitting on the couch with her Uncle Jasper, and the pair of them had been laughing at something Emmett must have said while Alice and I were upstairs. As soon as I came into view, she hopped to her feet and rushed over to me with brightness in her chocolate brown eyes.

Jasper too rose from his seat, but his eyes were only for Alice. She had chosen to wear a strapless black number that had glittery white and red roses sewn along the bottom hem of the dress. A fake flower had been clipped into her hair, and she looked very much like an angel dressed in black. She could pull off being beautiful without even a blink of her eye. I wish I had been so lucky to have those traits.

"Mom, you're beautiful," Riley told me, wrapping her slender arms around my waist and giving me a gentle hug.

"Thanks, honey," I murmured. "But I think these shoes will be the death of me," I confided, gesturing down towards my feet. She looked down and giggled.

"Edward will be there to save you," she chirped, mimicking Alice's words from not even moments before. Sometimes I wondered if those two had a psychological link drilled into their minds.

"Sure he will," I grumbled. "He'll probably run away as soon as he sees me."

"Nonsense," Alice piped up. I glanced over at Jasper and her, their hands were entwined as they gazed at me. "You're so breathtaking that I think you'll be the first one to give any Cullen a heart attack."

Jasper laughed at her choice of words. It was a stiff, forced laugh. "You're dashing, Bella," he complimented me. "Edward… he won't regret this." His serene brotherly smile was enough to make me feel a little more confident about myself. Though I could tell there was bitterness behind his seemingly peaceful tone.

"Damn, and I thought I'd never see the day when Isabella Swan got dressed up for something other than a cast party," Emmett commented. He had seemed to move into the entry hall where we were all waiting/standing, and his eyes roamed my figure like a disapproving parent might whenever their daughter was about to go to some nightclub. "But you look pretty, Bells."

"Thanks Emmett," I said with a blush rising to my cheeks. "I really appreciate it."

"What time should we be setting off?" Jasper asked his fiancé, holding her recklessly close as he planted a romantic kiss on her temple.

Alice didn't seem to notice his action, as if it had been the natural thing for him to do. "We'll leave right after Edward comes to pick up Bella. Which should be…" She paused to glance around the corner into my kitchen so she could see the clock. "In about five minutes. How about we move into the living room?"

Riley beamed at me, and led me into the carpeted living room and sat down beside me on the couch where she and her uncle had been sitting moments before. Alice and Jasper shared an armchair – she was sitting on his lap. Emmett was just sitting in another armchair, fiddling with his cell phone that had been in his pocket. He appeared to be texting someone, and I suspected that it was probably Rosalie.

Those five minutes had to be the longest five minutes of my life. I was constantly fiddling with my dress, earning dirty looks from Alice every time she noticed what I was doing. I was constantly glancing up at the clock hanging above the entrance to the living room, and I could have sworn it was moving far too slowly for it to be actual time. Nobody really said anything of interest to me – Jasper and Alice were discussing what they would be doing tomorrow after rehearsal, and Riley was simply resting her head on my shoulder.

When the doorbell finally rang, I jumped. Riley raised her head off my shoulder just in time for me to shoot to my feet and begin pacing frantically.

"He's going to think I'm some kind of klutz!" I moaned. "He's going to hate me!"

"Bella, calm down right now or I will not open that door!" Alice threatened, and I reluctantly obeyed. A million doubtful thoughts were shooting through my head, and I could hardly stand it. I thought I was going to have a heart attack at the age of thirty-two.

Alice pranced to the entry hall and I heard her open the door.

"Why Edward, you look like a prince!" I heard her chirp. "When did you get so handsome?"

"When I got away from you," I heard his velvety voice tease his little sister. I heard Alice giggle at his audacity and then she said in response,

"Well, Prince Edward, your princess awaits you."

"I'm not a princess," I grumbled to myself. Emmett snickered and Riley frowned at me as if she would beg to differ. Jasper didn't seem to hear my doubtful remark – his eyes and ears were presumably focused on Alice. They were so involved with each other sometimes that I often wondered if their love even existed or if it was some kind of happy ending to a typical fairy tale.

Suddenly, Edward was in the doorway. As soon as his eyes were on me, his eyes widened. He paused there, not sure of what to say as he took my figure in. I blushed, knowing it was because I probably looked so ugly in this dress that didn't deserve my albino looks and my painfully plain features.

"I know," I gushed before he could even get a word out. "I look horrible. The dress is too pretty for someone like me and these shoes are practically begging to be the death of…"

"Bella, stop," Edward commanded me, his voice firm. I looked up to see his emerald green eyes smoldering into mine like he was seeing straight into my soul. "You're perfect. More breathtakingly beautiful than any Hollywood actress I've ever seen on the red carpet," he complimented, and I turned a new shade of red. Riley giggled beside me – she seemed to like the fact that I was being complimented.

Alice beamed and Jasper scowled. Emmett snickered again as he shoved himself to his feet. He wrapped an arm around my daughter's shoulders and moved away from me with a grin on his face.

"Well, if you don't mind, I'm going to take little Riley here back to my place. She's about to get her ass kicked on Guitar Hero, like she should have long ago," he announced boldly to everyone. Riley rolled her eyes and shared an amused looked with Edward. Then she looked at me, gave me the thumbs-up, winked, and broke away from her soon-to-be uncle to wrap her arms around my waist in a tight hug.

"Good luck, Mom," she whispered.

"Love you, sweetie," I said, kidding her forehead. "Be good for Uncle Emmett, alright? And try not to beat him too much. I don't want to see you tomorrow to find out you've got a black eye because you're too talented for your own good." Riley giggled and departed from me, going with her Uncle Emmett outside to his huge Jeep. Edward silently watched me through all of this as I watched Emmett drive my daughter away. She waved through the semi-open window as the Jeep disappeared from sight.

It always worried me a little whenever I could no longer see my daughter. I suppose that was just a part of being a protective mother. I knew I could trust Emmett with her for one night, even if he was a little rambunctious. He still loved her like crazy, so I knew she was safe in his hands.

"Shall we?" Edward offered me his arm after a good minute or two, and I blushingly rested my hand on his and he flashed a lopsided grin my way. I think my heart skipped a beat.

"Let's go!" Alice urged us. "Check in time is in a half an hour! We'll never get there in time if you two keep stalling! Move it!"

Edward and I shared a laugh as he led me out side to the driveway. His silver Volvo rental car was parked there gleaming next to my rusty old pickup truck. I must have looked something like that compared to this beautiful green-eyed man who had probably agreed to go to dinner with me because he felt extremely sorry for me. I could hardly remember that Alice and Jasper were going to be with us as he opened up the door for me. He smiled a sincere smile and gestured for me to get in. Wordlessly, I did.

He shut the door for me as I was putting on my seatbelt. Edward went around to the driver's side and slid in next to me, putting on his seat belt and starting up the car. We had to pull out first, since Alice and Jasper's car was right in front of his. They were getting into it as he began pulling out of the driveway.

"So how was your day?" he asked nonchalantly as if we were merely co-workers going out on some kind of business cruise. Something about that assumption made my heart twinge.

"It was alright, I suppose. Riley was playing Guitar Hero all day, saying she wanted to beat you at it someday. I think the next time you visit, she'll be waiting to challenge you," I told him truthfully.

That made Edward smile. "I suspected as much," he chuckled as we began driving. "Your daughter is extremely talented. I'm sure she'll get the knack of it."

His compliment to Riley now made me smile. I looked down at my hands, which were folded in my lap. "Yes, she is," I said softly, suddenly wanting to share with him just how talented she really was. Not just at guitar or acting, but as a person and in her personality. How brave she was, how smart she was, and how many times she had stood up for me to those asses that I unfortunately had once called my boyfriends.

"What about you though? How did _you_ spend your day?" Edward asked me now, looking away from the road. This bothered me greatly, but something about his hypnotic eyes soothed my fear. He wouldn't get us into a car crash.

"For the most part, I did taxes and watched my daughter have fun. Not much of an exciting day," I confessed.

Edward, however, seemed to find this extremely fascinating. "Are you always so involved in your daughter's life?" he questioned curiously.

Before my mind could respond to that question, my tongue already was spewing the words out of my mouth. "Of course I am. Riley and I… we've certainly been through a lot together and I don't think we'll ever really split off from each other until she finds a husband and is dragged off by him." My mind, for a split second, thought of Seth Clearwater. I gritted my teeth and forced the image of the young male actor out of my head. I didn't like thinking of him, considering as he had the potential of winning my daughter's heart.

Edward didn't question that, though most other men would have asked me what kind of stuff we had been through. I appreciated that, like he was respecting my privacy. Although, there was something behind his silence that made me sense that he wasn't allowed to question in that department. I think Jasper must have had a talk with him.

"How was your day, then?" I questioned, trying to break the silence.

"It was quite uneventful," was the tart reply. "I sorted out a few scenes to rehearse on Monday and I made a few calls to remind everyone of call time. Quite a boring day, I must admit."

"Oh."

The remainder of the ride to Navy Pier was quiet. Neither of us really looked at each other, nor gave any signs of speaking. It just seemed to be a mutual sort of pleasant silence we shared, because even though nothing was being said, plenty was being thought. I could tell it in the calculating look in his eyes, and every time he glanced at me, I was sure that he saw something of the same kind in my own eyes.

For instance, my thoughts wandered to Riley's performance on stage. The only time I had ever really paid attention to her on stage was at the auditions. I felt bad for not being her supporter those other times, but I'd had business to take care of back stage. I hoped that she didn't resent me for it, because I was positive that she felt at least some kind of remorse. I would have.

I also thought about what would be happening tonight, because in reality I was very scared of what this event might turn into.

If I thought about it, I really was scared of getting into a relationship with Edward. Though he appeared to be sincerely intelligent, sweet man, he could have a darker underside that nobody knew about. That was how all of my previous boyfriends had been. They had all turned out to be complete psychos.

I would never find it in me to forgive myself if Riley was to be hurt yet again by one of my mistakes. I knew it should have been me that had gotten shot by James, or beaten by Jacob, or raped by Laurent. But now, Riley was the one to suffer the injuries, and bear the marks of my bad judgment. Every time I accidentally walked in on her dressing in the morning or at night, when I saw her scar from the bullet, it made me want to cry. Every time I noticed her crooked arm, it made my heart twinge. Every time I was reminded that she wasn't an innocent virgin anymore broke my heart.

Would Edward be any different?

I didn't consider him a boyfriend. Of course I didn't. In fact, just the word sent shivers down my spine – but not of pleasure or of excitement. Of remorse and hatred. I didn't want to put Edward through that.

So why was I here?

"Bella?" came Edward's silken voice, breaking through my reverie. "Are you alright?" He sounded anxious.

"Hm?" I turned my head towards him, eyebrows raised in questioning as he took in my countenance. "Oh, I'm fine. Are we there?" I looked around to realize we had stopped.

"Yes, we're here. Do you think you can walk a little ways? Alice said that there was no parking on Navy Pier. An annoying fact, if you will, but apparently you of Chicago think much of this collection of shops," he told me, sounding almost a little disdainful at the mention of it.

I rolled my eyes. "Well we here in Chicago value our monuments. Thanks for offending one of our greatest assets," I snorted. "But yes, I can walk."

Edward seemed satisfied that I was now myself. A smile broke onto his face as he slid out of the car and opened my door for me like a real gentleman. He smiled as I passed, and offered me his hand this time. I couldn't see a way why it would be a bad gesture, so I took it. The skin of his hand was as smooth as stone, and a little cool compared to the average human's. I remembered that Alice felt similar whenever we hugged. It must have been a family trait.

Alice and Jasper joined us. They must have parked somewhere close by. Jasper frowned at noticing Edward's and my interlocked hands, but said nothing of it. Instead, he just shook his head and took Alice's. She leaned into him slightly as she observed Edward and I as a couple, and seemed pleased with the image.

She led us out to Navy Pier, which was only a minute's walk, and down the pier to where a large boat was waiting. Alice reached into her purse and produced four tickets with fancy lettering on them. She handed each of us one and got in line to board. Edward and I joined her and Jasper in line, and some more couples got in line behind us.

It wasn't a long wait to get on the boat, and one of the workers swiped our tickets in a fancy-looking machine that was hardly fitting to be on a boat. What had Alice gotten us into?

A guide, who had received what was left of our tickets, smiled. "You'll be in the basement floor, for Couples' Night. Find yourself a pair of tables and you may seat yourselves. Just down those stairs, and through the double-doors. Have a great evening," he said.

"Thank you, sir," Alice thanked him kindly, and for a moment the guide was taken aback – as if he had only now discovered her beauty. Jasper took notice of this and held her a tad bit closer as he led her down the stairway. Edward looked at me and gestured that I go first. This was going to be a disaster.

Actually, it turned out that I was able to make it to the bottom step without killing myself. I awaited Edward to join me, and together we followed Alice and Jasper through the double doors.

The place itself looked exceedingly fancy.

There were tables lining all around the gigantic room. There was a dance floor in the middle, and a buffet of food just in front of it. A bar was a little farther down, complete with stools and even a few drink machines. Across from that was the DJs' station, where a tall man with brown hair tied back in a ponytail was standing, going through what seemed to be a list of songs. Beyond that was a valet section guarded by what looked like professional security guards. Alice led us right up to them and showed them our tickets. They waved us through.

I stared, shocked.

"How much did you actually spend to get us here?" I asked in a low hiss.

"Oh, relax, Bella. I'm sure you'll live through the night knowing that your best friend got you into the best possible conditions to get to know a really good guy," she retorted. "Go find your table."

She walked away with Jasper on her arm.

Edward and I exchanged a glance and took a table in the far corner by the windows. Looking out, I could see the darkness of Lake Erie, though its waters were reflected with beautiful city lights. It was breathtaking. Almost as breathtaking as the man I was sitting across from.

I still couldn't believe that he had agreed to go on this cruise with me.

We spent five minutes in silence, until the D.J (whose name was Garrett) told us all the information we needed. The valet would get the first dibs at the seafood buffet, the restrooms were behind his booth, the deck was open to everyone, and that the dance floor would be available as soon as the buffet was cleared to a corner that apparently had been reserved just for it.

A waiter gestured us that it was our turn to get our food, so Edward helped me out of my chair and carefully led me to the line. I tripped over the heels once, but he steadied me before I even had a chance to fall. He smiled at me, and I felt blood rush to my face in embarrassment. He chuckled at something on my expression and gestured that I take a plate.

I did so, and went through the buffet.

All of the food looked fancy, and it was all seafood. There were salmon filets bathed in this garlic-like sauce, pasta with shrimp in it, some kind of tuna mixed in with this expensive looking cheese, and all sorts of other things. It all looked delicious, but I only took a salmon filet and a little bit of pasta. Edward got some shrimp and cocktail sauce with a tuna filet. He took me back to our table sat across from me.

"This looks good," I remarked, breaking the silence. It was beginning to make me feel unnerved.

Edward had begun peeling his shrimp. He looked at me through his perfect eyelashes and smiled. "Yes, it does," he responded. "Alice must have put a lot of thought into this."

"She wouldn't tell me how much she spent to get us on here," I told him before I took a bite of my salmon. It was just as delicious as it had looked.

Edward chuckled and shook his head. "I suspected as much," he commented. "My little sister has a knack for spending a lot of money and making things as wonderful as she can. I think this is nice." He gestured around us to show he was talking about the cruise.

"Riley would like this," I remarked, my mind briefly going to my daughter. I wonder what she was doing right now?

"You should take her sometime," Edward amended. "Perhaps I could take the pair of you. I'd be honored to do so."

I blushed again. "You don't mean that," I warned him.

"What if I do?"

I looked down and fiddled with my fork. He took this time to pop the shrimp he had been peeling into his mouth. "Nobody means it when they say stuff like that," I confessed in a small voice. "None of the men _I_ know, anyway."

There was a pause as I heard him swallow. "Bella." I looked up to see him frowning. There was something in his eyes – maybe it was curiosity or concern. I couldn't really tell, but I was instantly lost in his gaze. "I don't know what happened to you, but I know it was serious. And I promise that someday I'll take you and Riley on this same boat for the same kind of dinner. Will you believe me?"

"I suppose," I said quietly, going back to my dinner.

We then lapsed back into silence again, eating our dinners peacefully. I think he was satisfied with my answer, because something about it had tugged the corners of his lips. As I was finishing my salmon and pasta, my eyes wandered over to Alice and Jasper's table where they seemed to be talking. Alice had just laughed at something my brother said, and Jasper was smiling. I didn't miss how their hands were connected over the table.

"Bella." Edward had called my name again. I turned my head to face him. He now looked a little nervous, and I wondered what he wanted to ask. "I know we haven't known each other for very long, but I'd like to ask you something extremely personal. Please don't be angry with me."

I was on my guard now. I eyed him carefully. "What?"

Edward fiddled with his glass of water. "Bella, I want to know something. Everyone has been saying that you've gone through a lot. Like I said, we haven't known each other for very long but… do you think you could tell me a little bit about what's happened? I want to be someone you can confide in Bella, someone you can trust. Can you take that first step?" he asked, looking at me with desperate green eyes.

I froze. I hadn't been expecting that. Flashes of James, Jacob, and Laurent flooded my mind and I let out a shaky breath, trying to steady myself and not show that I was having a problem. But Edward saw through that, somehow, and he frowned anxiously.

"Bella?"

"I… I need to go to the bathroom for a minute. Do you mind?" I asked breathlessly, desperately needing to think this out without him watching me.

Edward wasn't surprised by my request, so he just sighed and nodded. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

I didn't hear the rest of his sentence. I was already flying towards the bathroom. A couple at the bar turned their heads to stare as I dashed down the steps. Normally I would have cared, but right now I could have cared less. I almost tripped and fell down the stairs to the bathroom itself, but I managed to keep my balance by myself. I crashed into the door of the ladies' restroom and went in.

I was in luck. Nobody was in there. I sank to a sitting position against the wall by the door, hiding my face in my hands as my mind wrestled with itself.

On one hand, I could tell him. But I knew that if I told him even the tiniest bit, the rest would come spilling out. Perhaps he was a caring man who wouldn't cringe away from me every time he looked. Perhaps Edward actually did want to know because he wanted to make sure that I was alright. If all of that was true, then what was the harm in telling him?

But on the other hand, I really didn't know him that well. Edward could turn out to be the type that only liked women who were perfect. It would suit him, since he was so remarkably beautiful and perfect himself. He could turn out to be the teasing type who would make fun of me for what I'd done. I twitched to even think that. My friends knew better than to tease me about that life.

"Bella?" Alice was suddenly poking her head into the restroom, and she spotted me. "Honey, what's wrong?" Despite her tiny frame and arms, suddenly she was beside me with an arm around my shoulder and holding me close.

"He… he asked me to tell him what happened," I told her in a terrified whisper. "I don't know what to do."

Alice considered this for a moment, and I decided to sooth my frantic mind by just observing her peaceful, thoughtful expression. I could only imagine how Jasper looked right now, since he was probably informed that I was upset or something. But by the look on my best friend's face, she hadn't told her fiancé a thing. Hopefully he didn't suspect anything either. I didn't want Edward to be murdered on my behalf.

"Bells, I think you should tell him," Alice informed me confidently. When I looked at her in a panicked expression, she pushed a stray strand of hair behind my ear. "Look, my brother can be a complete dunce sometimes, but I guarantee to you that he will understand."

"But do _you_? I'm so scared… he might… he might hate me for the bad decisions I've made. I'm a horrible person for letting those things happen to my daughter. My _daughter_, Alice. My baby girl. How could he not hate me?"

Alice shook her head stubbornly. "Bells, think about this for a minute. I found out because Jasper dragged me to the hospital that one night and I saw Riley and you on those beds. Believe me, Bella, Edward won't hate you. I've known him my whole life, and I know he would never dream of seeing you like that. The people that do are complete assholes, okay? Tell him. He'll understand, I promise." She smiled at me and winked. "I can see it."

I looked at Alice calculatingly for a moment. She was really being serious. She trusted her brother, so couldn't I? Alice had absolute faith in him, so shouldn't I too? For some reason, I couldn't force myself to see her reasoning.

"Alice, I'm still scared," I confessed.

"I know you are Bells. You deserve to be after what those pieces of shit put you through. Believe me, if I ever saw one of them again, _they'd_ be the ones in the hospital. And I'd probably be in jail for attempted murder," Alice told me. "One day you'll get to trust Edward, and you're going to be glad to have him as a friend, or something more if this goes anywhere. He's a good man."

"O… Okay, Alice," I said. I wrapped my arms around her in a hug. "Thank you so much."

"So are you going to tell him?" she asked me curiously, raising a small eyebrow as she observed me. She helped me to my feet and I checked myself in the mirror. I looked fine, since I hadn't been crying.

"Yes… yes, Alice. I'm going to tell him. Just try to have Jazz not get at his throat tonight, okay?" I responded.

Alice gave me a grin and gave me a hug now. "Proud of you, Bells," she chirped before dancing out the door of the restroom. Letting out a deep breath, I steadily followed her out.

* * *

EOC: Oh! Horrible place to end it for you guys, eh? Ha, I decided this would be a good place to stop. I also know exactly what this cruise was like, because my band and I went on that same boat, and were on the same floor. It was a LOT of fun. Also, considering, as I said last chapter that I would post a small spoiler/sneak peek at the action coming up in a few chapters, I'm posting it now. If you don't want to read it, you can go ahead and exit out now or review or whatever you want. If you'd like to read it, read on! Let me know if you liked it. Here it is:

* * *

_Bella's POV_

"Thank you, Edward," Riley said, wrapping her arms around my boyfriend's waist. "You're the greatest father a girl could have."

Edward looked surprised but pleased at this comment, but nobody had much time to take in the full effect of that remark.

"Why, that's so flattering. Thank you, Riley," a voice sneered behind Edward and Riley.

As soon as I saw past them, my hand flew to my mouth and I let out a gasp. Standing there, his beady brown eyes fixed on our daughter, was a thirty-three year old James. He had grown out his hair since I had last seen him, and it was down all the way to his shoulders. He was wearing it back in a ponytail, but nothing about his face had changed. He still had those beady brown eyes and that fierce smile that now sent shivers down my spine. He was wearing a tux, and on his arm was a ravishingly beautiful redheaded woman. She was smiling as if she was with the most amazing man in the world.

Edward spun around, his arms spreading out behind him protectively, shielding my daughter and I from James. He must have seen my expression.

"What do you think you're doing here?" he snarled, since neither Riley nor I had the strength or courage to even speak to him.

Riley whimpered, shrinking away from her biological father with terror on her face. I'd never seen her so scared, so I wrapped her into my arms and held her tightly. I crooned to her quietly, trying not to show how afraid I was as well.

James glared at Edward, and I flinched away from that gaze. It was the same look he had given me before… before he had shot my baby. I suddenly feared for not only my daughter, and myself but also for the man I loved. Edward had kept his rigid pose, only now he had backed up so that his hands, now extended backwards, could touch my upper arms and draw me closer to his back.

"I wanted to see if I could talk to my daughter after an amazing performance on stage. Is that illegal?" James demanded, and the female attached to him snorted, looking haughty.

"It is when you shot her twelve years ago," roared someone behind us. Suddenly we weren't alone. Jasper, Alice, Rosalie, Emmett, and even young Seth had rushed to our aid.

A small streak of black hair and pale skin shot past us. My eyes widened in horror as Alice shot herself at the crazed man with her fists extended and her emerald green eyes on fire.

* * *

EOSP: How'd you like THAT, guys? Who wants to give Alice some flowers? I think you'll find out what happens when we actually get there, which, sad to say, doesn't come for a while. Don't come murder me, okay? Just wanted to keep you guys interested. Thanks for sticking with me, and let me know what you thought of the sneak peek! Until next time. – Dark and Wild


	9. Chapter 9

Kay, so as I was informed by a very worried Thiefy and Lighty (Lighty you all wouldn't know, but…) someone snuck onto my account and posted something about me having a broken leg. If you'll go back and look at the modified version, you will see that isn't the case. I'm fine, and I'm super sorry about what happened. Anyways, this chapter might be a little boring for some of you, but it's very important. If you haven't assumed what this chapter's about, I think you're insane. Well, it depends on who thinks that. It's all about Bella's story, obviously. Don't worry, the part _after _this is awesome. At least, I think so.

Also, someone who reviewed brought a mistake of mine to attention. I accidentally said that they were on Lake Erie, when in fact Chicago is on Lake Michigan. I apologize for that, and hopefully you all don't hate me. Enough of my talking. I need to learn to control that. Here's Chapter 9.

Chapter Song: _Who's Crying Now_, By: Journey

X-x-X

**Chapter 9: A Truth Revealed**

_Bella_

As I sat back down at our table, earning a wink and a grin from Alice, Edward looked at me with pained green eyes.

"I'm sorry for asking that, Bella, I truly am. Could you forgive me?" he asked worriedly before I could open my mouth. I now understood why Alice had been so enthusiastic about me telling him. Edward was a kind, sincere man that would listen and not judge. It made me feel slightly better.

"Edward, I'm not angry," I answered quietly. "I understand your curiosity, which is why I'm going to tell you."

"Bella, you don't have to do that…"

"Edward, I want to," I protested, trying to hide the half-lie behind that statement. Half of me was still holding onto the secret, begging not to be let out for this man to see. Part of it was because I was scared he would hate me. The other part was because I didn't want him mixed up in the messed up circle of my life. I didn't want someone else feeling sorry for me, when it was my fault in the first place that this had all happened.

He eyed me as if he didn't believe that. "Bella, are you sure? If my sister is forcing you into this, I don't want to seem like an impertinent…"

I shook my head and gave him a faint smile. Though I knew he only meant well, he had no idea how strange it was to be telling him this. Not to mention the pain of revisiting memories that I'd rather forget would probably amount to something that I didn't want.

"Edward, it's alright. Just give me a moment to collect myself and I'll tell you. All I ask is that you won't judge Riley or me for what happened. I realize that I've made mistakes, and that my daughter has paid the price. I know that, and I admit my mistakes," I told him quietly.

Edward opened his mouth – probably to reassure me, but I held up a hand to quiet him before he could begin speaking.

I took a deep breath, reluctantly bringing back all the memories that I hated to have in my mind. I put them in order, and I had no idea how long that took. All I knew was that I could tell that Edward was watching me worriedly and intently, and that dinner was long forgotten. It would probably get cold before I even considered eating it again. Right now, my mind was focused on telling Edward the truth, because he deserved to know. Especially if he was considering having a relationship with me (which he probably wasn't, but a strange hopeful part in me was hoping that).

So I took another deep breath, steadied my thoughts, and began my story.

"It all started in high school, really. I was sixteen, and one of the cute football players asked me to a celebration party that his friend was having. His name was James Wilson, and of course I agreed to go. Why wouldn't a girl refuse a football player's invitation to some sort of hot party? Well, I tried faking sickness but my brother Jasper made me go because he wanted support with his girlfriend, Maria. I didn't like her much, but I didn't want Jasper going alone with her since he didn't want to, so I went. That's how it all kicked off, anyway.

"James and I got serious about each other, declaring that we'd get married someday and that we'd go to the same college and get the same jobs so we could stay together forever. It was the typical, passionate high school love, you know? I mean, but that sort of changed when I got pregnant.

"It had been my seventeenth birthday, and James had said that he wanted to give me something special. His parents were out of town and his older sister was out at college. So of course I had agreed. You can imagine what we did, and even though we thought we had protection, Riley was the result of that night. Jasper wanted to kill him, but of course I told him not to. Charlie, our father, was really nice about it and paid all of my hospital bills.

"You have to understand that I loved Riley right from the start. Even before she was born, I loved her. I had never really thought that I was the motherly type, but I guess it sort of came naturally when I found out that I was pregnant. James wasn't pleased, and constantly made it all sound like some kind of lame joke. I snapped at him a lot for that, and sometimes my hormones would get out of hand.

"James helped me get through my senior year, since I couldn't go to school with Riley, and my brother and father were always gone. I thought I was so lucky to have him, and I graduated thinking that I had the best boyfriend in the world.

"James rented us an apartment closer to his college, and that was out in Springfield, Illinois. We were alright through his freshman year there, and we were making enough money to get by. It wasn't really until his sophomore year when things started getting bad.

"You can imagine how all relationships begin to get rocky. He began spending more time with his friends and at the bar, and he was bringing home more beer than food on most nights. Normally he came home drunk, and he was one of the alcoholics that got overbearingly angry whenever he was under the influence. I received the brunt of that anger most of the time," I explained, wincing as I could remember James shouting at me and throwing things.

"He hurt you?" Edward scowled, as if this thought angered him. It must have been because of his sincere, sweet nature that he was angered by the fact that anyone would hurt a fellow human being.

I nodded, and decided to continue. "Things were bad by the time Riley tuned three. One night, we were arguing when Riley woke up and called for me. James forgot about her whenever he was angry, I guess, because he acted surprised when he heard her voice. He dragged her out of her room and threw her down with me and… and then he pulled out a gun. He loosed a shot, and I managed to pull Riley down in time. But he shot again before I was ready. Riley was hit in the shoulder." I buried my face in my hands, feeling horrible about remembering it. It had all been my fault.

Edward was very interested in the story, because he was leaning forward with his green eyes on me. There was a frown on his face, and it was probably because he was getting disgusted with me. But I knew if I stopped now, I'd never be able to start telling him again.

"It took her a month to get out of the hospital. I had a broken leg, but my condition wasn't nearly as bad as hers. After we were released, James was put through court, and was sentenced to twelve years for attempted murder of an adolescent. Jasper took us to live with him, and that's sort of when and where I met Alice. She took care of us, but I didn't like being a burden to Jasper… so I rented an apartment and got a job. I left Riley with Jasper and Alice most of the time.

"So I guess it was about six or seven years before I started dating again. The next one was this guy named Jacob. He was so nice and caring – he was like my best friend. I brought him home to Riley and he was pretty nice to her. I thought that maybe he was the one… I though that we would be perfect together, but…" I paused, letting out a sigh.

"What happened?" Edward asked earnestly. I didn't miss how he was leaning across the table, fascinated with my story.

"Jacob was introduced to gambling, at the casino on the outskirts of town. He went every Sunday with his friends and I didn't like it a lot. I told him that and, well… he became upset and things started just like they had with James. Riley was only ten, but she understood so much more than she had when she was three. She was scared of Jacob. Whenever he came home, she'd lock us in her room with snacks.

"Well, one night it just sort of came to a climax like it had with James. Only… I wasn't home. I had thought Jacob was out gambling, and Riley had insisted that she stay home. Jasper was out of town with Alice visiting our father, so she couldn't go to his house and stay for a while.

"When I got home, I found Riley on the floor. There was blood and her arm was twisted the wrong way… I thought he'd shot her, just like James had. I called the police, and I called Jasper… he came home right away with Alice and made sure I could stay with him. I sold the apartment, because nobody really wants to live in a place where something bad happened, so…

"Riley tried to convince me that it wasn't my fault, that she should have gone to work with me, but how could I not blame myself? That was the second time that Riley was hurt because of me. I mean, I was so scared and… I just… I couldn't believe that I had managed to put her in danger again," I said, my voice dying off into a broken whisper as I held my head in my hands.

Even though I wasn't looking at him, I could practically feel Edward tense as if he had wanted to do something and had restrained himself from doing it. I could feel his eyes on me. "Bella, I think Riley is right. It isn't your fault that these terrible things have happened. Though it is hard not to blame yourself for the pain of a loved one, you have to learn that not everything is your fault," he told me gently. "Don't blame yourself for Riley's pain. You know she would feel the same way if it had been you that was hurt."

He had a point. I knew Riley would feel terrible if I ever got hurt.

But before I let myself dwell on it any further, I continued on. "Well, Jasper let me stay with him again for a while. But we only stayed for a month. I rented out a house near the docks – I was working with the theater by then. Alice got the manager to hire me, even though I didn't have a college education. I thought that life was going to turn around.

"Well, it didn't. I went to a country club on the west side of town and met this guy named Laurent. He was dancing with another woman, but I didn't think anything of it when he began flirting with me. He told me I was beautiful, and he asked if I was single… when I told him I was, he offered to take me to dinner. Someone smarter probably would have turned him down, but… I didn't. I couldn't help but hope that maybe things were going to get better.

"I probably should have listened when Jasper told me that Laurent wasn't to be trusted. Riley didn't like him much, but she put up with him for my sake. I should have seen it coming, I guess."

"Seen what?" Edward was looking at me again, frowning.

"What a bastard he was," I spat out remembering the night with perfect clarity. "He was always the jealous sort of guy. I mean, I never really paid attention to many people, but whenever I did he would get so angry. I'd always be able to calm him down, and then he'd apologize and tell me how much he trusted me. When a man tells you something like that, a woman can't just _not_ forgive them, I suppose.

"Well, there was one night when this waiter was flirting with me. Laurent dragged me home and was yelling. He began taking my shirt off, telling me that he'd teach me a lesson. He was calling me these horrible names, but then… Riley came downstairs. She'd been sleeping, I guess. But she yelled at him, and told him to stop talking to me like that. You can imagine his reaction.

"He turned towards her… told he he'd teach her to keep her mouth shut. Riley was scared, and she tried to run, but…. He was so quick; he grabbed her arm and began pulling down her pants. I tried to find a bat… but when I did find one, I was too late. Riley, she – well, she…" My voice trailed off and I held my head in my hands again. Thinking of her face that night was practically unbearable. The terror that had been in her eyes had been torturous for me then, and it remained that way now.

"Bella…" Edward was standing up now. Was he leaving, so disgusted that he was going to distance himself from me now? "Come up to the deck with me."

His invitation caught me completely off guard. "What?" I asked, bewildered.

"Come with me. I want to speak to you in private, and in here just isn't quite the place to do it," Edward told me. He offered me his hand.

I was hesitant. Why did he want to speak to me in private? Was it so that nobody would see me cry whenever he told me that I was worthless, or that he was going to make me scream by hurting me? He must have seen some kind of fear in my eyes, because what he offered next was a small reassuring smile.

"I won't hurt you, I promise. I just think we need the quiet of the night air outside," he told me, the sincerity burning behind his words.

There was no way to doubt him. Almost mechanically, I placed my hand in his and allowed him to pull me to my feet. Keeping me so steady (he must have realized by now that I was so clumsy that I could set off a nuclear bomb), he led me out of the dining room gracefully. I could feel Jasper and Alice's eyes on me, but I refused to look behind me.

He led me up two flights of stairs, the cool Chicago night air nipping at us. We went up onto the deck, where only two other couples were watching the beautiful Chicago lights that were behind us. But Edward didn't take me to those tables they were sitting at. Instead, he took me to the front of the boat.

Looking out over the water, it was all pitch black. Only the faint glow of the city lights behind us were reflected on the water. Beyond that there was only blackness, and the white of the moon above us. I turned to face Edward, to find that all the beauty was here in front of me.

"Bella," he said, now that he had my attention, "I wanted to say this out of Jasper's possible earshot." If it had been any other time but now, I probably might have found that funny.

"What?" I asked quietly instead.

"I think that you're the bravest, most beautiful woman I've ever met. Especially for dealing with all of those bastards in the past, and for raising a daughter that loves you so much. I'm happy that you chose to confide in me, but I'm going to ask something else of you," he answered, looking at me intently.

I paused, and a hole in my heart flared and nipped up at my brain. Those were words similar to what Laurent, Jacob, and James. They'd all called me brave and beautiful. Was this just another front too?

Edward seemed to see that he would never get an answer from me in response to that, so he sighed. "I'm asking you to give me a chance. I can see what you've been through, though I will probably never understand fully. I want to protect you, and make sure nothing like this ever happens again. Can you give me that chance?"

"I suppose you're asking me to be your girlfriend?" I asked now, wincing at the casual use of the term. That was what James, Laurent, and Jacob had referred to me as. Could I be referred to it again?

It took a lot to answer that question.

Edward seemed like a sincere, kind man. But his compliments just now were a bit over the top for someone who had just met me, Isabella Swan. And the doubt that would forever be with me began eating at me heart like a leech. No man would ever want to seriously date me, not after what I had caused to happen to my daughter. Any hopes I'd had for being happy with a man was destroyed years ago.

But… was it possible to love again, to trust someone completely? It might have been, but if it was, it was buried deep within myself where I couldn't find it. Edward had just asked to go out with me, but could I give him the chance? Could I risk getting hurt again?

"Do you promise to never hurt Riley?" I questioned him softly, looking up into his green eyes with pleading in my own.

His expression melted from one of determination to one of regret. "Of course. I promise to protect you both. Bella, I'm not like them. I want to help you." His green eyes smoldered with the finality of his declaration.

In a way, it was almost impossible to doubt him. The way he stared at me, and the way his eyes watched my every move made me feel a little safe. Riley was nice enough to him, and she even seemed to like him. She liked him enough to try and get us together, and Alice was in on this too. Had this been their plan? To get him to ask me out by throwing a pity party?

I let out a deep breath. "Edward, I'm not exactly ready to be a girlfriend yet," I murmured, since I would feel like a scumbag if I lied to him. "But I'll give you a chance. I just don't think someone like me deserves someone like you."

Even here in the darkness, I could see him frown.

"Bella, what makes you think that? You have never abandoned liked your family like I did. You've been through so much, and despite all of that, here you stand before me opening yourself up. It makes you such a brave woman, Isabella, and I don't think you realize that. I think that it is _I_ that doesn't deserve _you_," he answered fervently.

I rubbed my bare arms with my hands, like I was cold. I watched him warily. He didn't _look_ like he was lying. "Edward, don't promise me anything yet – except that you won't try to hurt my daughter. You're a wonderful man, I'm sure, but don't try to flatter me like that. It… it brings back bad memories," I told him, and that was true. It was getting easier talking to him, I couldn't deny.

"I'm sorry, Bella… Would you like to go back down and eat the rest of you meal? I'm sure you didn't eat much," Edward offered, looking almost a little hesitant.

"Yes… thank you, Edward," I answered as he began leading me back towards the stairs leading to our dining room.

"Whatever for, Bella?" He glanced at me over his shoulder, his expression bewildered. I almost smiled at it, because the expression didn't belong there. Almost.

"For listening. Not many people would do that, I don't think," I replied, looking down at my feet to make sure I didn't trip. He guided me down the stairs carefully and back into the dining room to the VIP section where our table still sat, vacant with our food still there on our plates. No steam was rising from it.

Edward didn't respond.

My eyes wandered to where Jasper and Alice were sitting. Alice smiled at me encouragingly, her green eyes warm with pride. She seemed to sense that I had indeed told him. The problem was that Jasper seemed to sense this too. His eyes were narrowed in my direction, but Edward was behind me so the glare might have been directed at him. If looks could kill, both of us would be dead. I sent him a pleading glance before sitting back down to my salmon and pasta.

It was a little cold, but Edward and I still ate our platefuls without another word. Both of us were submerged in our own thoughts.

"Bella, what are you thinking about?" he suddenly asked, looking back up at me for a few more minutes.

"Hm?" I looked at him, surprised by the question. "Why?"

"For the most part, I can read people's faces quite well – sometimes it's easy to see what they're thinking. I can't read your face, because you always surprise me. So what are you thinking about?" Was he really that interested?

I paused to collect my thoughts. "I'm thinking about Jasper, actually. I think he's still glaring at us right now," I confessed with a small smile. "He's very protective of me."

"I can see that," Edward murmured in a small chuckle. "Yes, he's still glaring. Mainly at me, so I have no idea what you would be worried about."

"There's plenty I would be worried about," I murmured.

Edward didn't reply to that, and instead continued to look at me curiously. His emerald green eyes watched me carefully as I continued eating the delicious salmon. In the background, I could vaguely hear the DJ announcing that dancing was beginning to start, and music beginning to play on the small dance floor. I ignored this, because I really didn't like dancing. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Alice pull my brother out of his chair and guide him to the dance floor.

I was thankful for her distraction. Now Jasper's eyes weren't boring into my back like a pair of knives. Edward visibly relaxed too, and he decided to lighten up the conversation.

"Looks like we're both scared of your big brother," he laughed.

I giggled, letting myself forget the serious conversation we'd had a few moments ago. "You'd better watch yourself on your way home tonight. I wouldn't put it past Jasper to send assassins after you," I teased as I took a sip on my lemonade. Edward chuckled and got to his feet again when he saw I was finished.

"Would you like to go up on deck again?" he asked me now with a small smile on his face. "I don't think we got to see the full beauty of the Lake Michigan waters." A blinding smile lit his features, and so how could I refuse? With a small smile, I put my hand in his and allowed him to draw me outside into the cool Chicago night air once more. Perhaps, at some point, I would be able to trust him completely.

I, at least, had faith. It was a start, wasn't it?

* * *

EOC: Yay! Finally, around a cramped schedule and a grounding, I managed to update this story. A bit of a short update, and horribly written, but… hey, I still got it up right? And I am proud to say that I have been on the Spirit boat, and it is REALLY nice. My band friends and I went to Chicago and went on it. The next day we went to Navy Pier. Such a nice two-day vacation. *dreams about going to Chicago again*. Such a nice place, that is. Anyways, I hope you weren't too bored with this chapter, and I'll try to update as soon as I can!!! But knowing my evil mother and her being a Nazi about my grades, well… who knows? I promise next chapter will be spicy and full of angst just for you guys!


	10. Chapter 10

Spring break! Woohoo! I still have four days of school left as I'm writing this intro, but… it's close. And soon after that, I shall be in Cleveland where wireless internet access is plenty and my writing skills are peaked by being surrounded with beloved family members that make me laugh! So I think spring break will be a time of much writing. I can't wait. Anyway, I suppose you're here to read the tenth chapter of Three Wrongs Make A Right, and I would just like to make it clear once more that I am **NOT** Stephenie Meyer. I do not own Twilight.

Chapter Song: _Dark of the Night_ from the Anastasia Soundtrack (yes, I am that much of a dork to put on a song from the Anastasia soundtrack on here)

X-x-X

**Chapter 10: A Troubling Call**

_Riley_

"Riley, try it again. Just one more time, and then we can be off for lunch," Edward instructed me firmly, his green eyes locked on Seth, Ben (Mr. Cheney), and I as we rehearsed a full scene for the first time.

"Stop looking at me like that! Were you some kind of vulture in another life?" I demanded towards Seth as he pretended to circle around me with appraising eyes. I glared at him, the script in my hands. I was aware of my mother watching me from the audience along with my Uncle Jasper and Uncle Emmett. Aunt Alice was off-stage, figuring out costumes for the show and Aunt Rosalie was practicing her lines in the dressing room.

"I don't believe it," Seth said, loud enough for the audience to hear as he circled me some more. I glared at him until he turned to Ben. "Do you see what I see, Vlad? Look at her. She's the perfect example of-"

"Am I allowed to demand of you to stop talking about me?" I demanded, folding my arms tightly across my chest. Ben looked me up and down for a moment before a lightened expression spread across his face. Seth was smiling, with his arm around Ben's shoulders.

"Yes! Yes I see it, Demetri," Ben commented, his eyes alight with curiosity. "She is perfect!"

"Perfect for what?" I asked, curious.

"You say you want to go to Paris," Ben said before Seth could open his mouth. He shook off Seth and put an arm around my shoulders, I nodded. Ben nodded too and smiled. "Well then, little dove, we have the perfect opportunity for you. We too are going to Paris, little one. But we are bringing someone very special along. Do you know who that special someone is?"

"Demetri's concubine?" I asked with raised eyebrows. I heard my Uncle Emmett guffaw out in the audience, and I was proud of myself for making someone laugh.

Ben too laughed lightly and glanced back at Seth, who was pretending to glare at my back. "No, no, dearest," Ben told me as he began leading in the opposite direction. "For you see, the long lost heir to the Russian throne is going to be found. Her name is Anastasia, and we are waiting for her to accompany us."

"Anastasia?" I asked skeptically.

"Great job!" Edward exclaimed from his chair at the front of the audience. He stood and stretched, and the few of us on stage visibly relaxed a little. It had been a hard morning, and we'd been rehearsing for three hours straight since this rehearsal began. Being an actress was harder than I thought. "We'll take a two hour lunch break. When we return, I'm going to have chorus on stage with a choreographer, and I would very much like the three of you to work with Rosalie back stage on the scene at page 53. Does that sound appealing enough?"

We all nodded.

"Good. Lunch!"

The few people sitting in the audience got up and stretched as well, and I dashed down the stairs to meet my mother. I threw my arms around her neck and buried my face into her black sweater.

"Did you like it?" I demanded brightly, looking up at my mother with intent eyes.

"Of course I did. I loved it," she assured me, kissing my forehead. "Are you ready to eat? You must be starving. Alice wants to take us and Rosalie out to lunch while Jasper and Emmett finish up a bit here."

"Yeah, I'd like that. Girls' time, right?" I questioned as she began leading me backstage to grab my coat and my two aunts.

"If that's what you want to call it," my mother laughed. I liked the sound of it coming from her – it sounded natural and it made her sound younger. It made me happy whenever she was happy. It was an automatic reaction I had developed over the years with living with her. "Alice will probably spend most of the time dragging us around department stores looking for new clothes."

"And what is the problem with that?" Alice was suddenly behind us, looking cheerful as she pranced around to be in front of us. "I'll go get Rosalie, and then we can head out! Do _not_ move, Isabella Marie Swan and Riley Renee Swan, or so help me I will make sure you're not invited to my wedding."

"It would be hard to do a wedding without a maid of honor and ring-bearer, Alice!" my mother called after her with a good-natured smile.

All I heard in response was a frustrated theatrical sigh.

My mother laughed and wrapped an arm around my shoulders with a bright smile. Lately, she had been a lot happier, a lot freer than she had been. Not that I minded at all – it was perfect for her. But I couldn't help but wonder what had brought all of this sudden happiness on. My thoughts briefly went to Edward, and I mentally bet with myself that he had something to do with it. I would have to ask Mom for details later.

"Come on, we'll grab your coat," my mother said cheerfully, and together we ventured to her office backstage. Angela was in there, sorting through papers when we entered. As my mother's personal assistant, she was often back here sharing the office space. She smiled warmly at the pair of us.

"Going out?" she asked.

"Yes," my mother answered with a returning warm smile. "Alice is taking us out somewhere. Is Ben taking you anywhere, Angela?"

My mother's assistant shrugged and let out a sigh. "I don't think so. Ben is probably just going to practice his lines downstairs. You know how he gets during production season. I doubt we'll have a date for another few weeks, what with this lead role he's landed himself in," Angela replied with a small smile.

Mom nodded and smiled at me. "You ready to go?" she asked me as she handed me my coat. I smiled slightly and nodded. "Come on then, let's go. Alice is taking us in her car. I don't know where she's taking us, so keep that coat handy. I can't have the best actress on stage catching cold in the middle of rehearsal day, can I?" She winked, and now I was _really_ beginning to wonder where this sudden cheeriness was coming from.

"Uh…"

"Come on, you two!" Alice groaned. She was leaning against the doorframe, her green eyes on us, as she looked ready to pout. Rosalie, in her beautiful glory, stood beside her proudly, observing us carefully with her wide blue eyes. It seemed that she too had noticed my mother's attitude.

"We're coming. See you, Angela!" Mom called over her shoulder as she gently pulled me out to where Aunt Alice and Aunt Rosalie were waiting.

"My G-d, Bells," Alice complained as soon as we were out of Angela's hearing range. "How come you never wear the clothes I buy for you? You know I hate it when you wear measly _jeans_ and _t-shirts_." She shuddered at the horror of that thought.

"Alice, do you ever think that Bella might actually want to be comfortable?" Rosalie teased, coming to my mother's defense before I could. "You have to admit some of those clothes you buy make a girl want to rip their hair out."

"Only some of the outfits," Alice grumbled.

Mom laughed, her arm still around my shoulders as we made our way to Alice's pride and joy – her shiny black sports car that Jasper had bought her for a birthday a while back. Her laugh brought a smile to my face, and Alice's and Rosalie's too. It had been a long time since my mother had laughed this much.

"So I heard you went on a date last night with Edward Cullen," Aunt Rosalie commented as we made our way to the car. My mother's cheeks turned a faint pink. "Does that have anything to do with this sudden joyful attitude you've developed?"

Suddenly, the conversation was right where I wanted it to be. I looked up at my mother curiously, and she looked back at me like she knew exactly what I was thinking. A small smile lit her expression, but it was nothing like the cheery grin she'd been smiling just a few moments ago. It almost looked as though she were afraid to tell me something, like there was a secret she was keeping from me.

"It might have something to do with it," my mother informed the two other women, but her eyes never left my face.

I could tell from her eyes that she wanted to tell me something. And since I knew her so well, I could tell that it was killing her that she hadn't told me yet. So that, of course, made me wonder what it was she was so worried about revealing to me.

"Ooh! I knew it!" Aunt Alice cooed as she pranced in circles around my mother and I. "Aren't I a genius, Bells? I told you that some nice quality time with him was the perfect way to get together!"

"You two are together?" I asked, surprised now. Was this what my mother had been waiting to tell me?

Mom shook her head, and Alice's face fell. Rosalie must have seen this, because the beautiful blond woman stuck her hands on her hips and tilted her head at the pair of us. "Then what the hell are you so happy about then, Bella?" Aunt Rosalie demanded. "If Edward has to do with it, but you're not going out with men again, what could he have possibly to get you so perked up this morning?"

I struggled hard not to show my disappointment. I had been hoping it had been good news like that. Or something similar.

"I… I just simply enjoyed his company last night," Mom answered, still looking a little guilty for whatever reason. I looked up at her worriedly, and took her hand in mine as Aunt Alice opened up the back door to her car for us to climb in.

"Mom, what's wrong?" I whispered as I was putting on my seatbelt. Neither Aunt Alice nor Aunt Rosalie seemed to hear me.

She looked at me for a second, and she looked like she was having an internal battle with herself. But whatever this battle was, she seemed to overcome it pretty quickly. "Riley… I… I told Edward. About… about what happened to us," she murmured, and then Mom winced away from me as if she were expecting some kind of anger.

I frowned, and she winced again. "Mom, why are you acting like that? I don't have a problem with it," I murmured.

"… You don't?" Mom looked surprised.

"Of course I don't!" I replied quietly as Aunt Alice started up the car. "It's better that he knows. This way, he can treat you better. He knows now that he shouldn't make certain jokes or say certain things to make you feel uncomfortable. And we can trust him, and he shouldn't be kept in the dark. Think of how mad Aunt Rosalie was when she finally found out, and she accused us of being sneaks because we didn't tell her for like a year…"

"What are you two geese squawking about back there?" Aunt Alice asked as she pulled out into the streets.

"Nothing," I replied. "We were talking about what you were going to do to torture us in a clothing store today."

Aunt Alice looked offended, but Aunt Rosalie and Mom laughed brightly. But when Aunt Alice turned her head to glare at me through semi-furious green eyes, I shrank in my seat and gave her an apologetic smile – which she seemed to accept.

"And we are not geese!" my mother added brightly, though she still looked she was contemplating my reaction.

"You dress like some," Alice muttered under her breath. When she continued though, she was happy again.

"Well, I was thinking about… Oh! Oh my goodness, I can't believe I forgot about this! Bells, Rose, Riley, guess what?" Alice was beaming now, seeming to have forgotten her so-called anger with me. She was practically bouncing in her seat, and my mother looked like she was about to warn Alice that she was in fact driving and that she should focus on the road and the cars around us (which my mom normally ended up doing whenever in a car with Alice OR Emmett OR Jasper, since all three of them drove unnecessarily fast).

"What?" Mom asked warily.

"Jazz and I decided last night over dinner that we were going to bounce up our wedding! I mean since we have most of the outfits picked out and the wedding planned and all that… we're going to get married in a month! Which reminds me: Riley, you still need a dress and Edward is going to need to get fitted for a tux and Bells, you need to find some earrings to go with your dress…"

"Alice!" Rosalie, Mom, and I all exclaimed at the same time.

"What?"

"Keep your eyes on the road," my mom said quickly before anyone else could voice their objections.

"Oh, tut, Bella," Alice fretted, frowning as she hunched down in her seat and looked straight out at the road. "You still need to find earrings. Oh, and a necklace or something! We can't have your neck bare either…"

Aunt Alice was talking about it the entire way to the restaurant she was driving us to, and I came to find that I was fearing these next few weeks. There would be shopping, fitting, and planning galore for Aunt Alice's and Uncle Jasper's wedding, and I was going to have to be a part of it. In fact, I would have to have a big part in it, since I would be the one carrying the ring for most of the ceremony for Christ's sake. And Aunt Alice would want to make sure I would get everything perfectly right, or I didn't doubt she would wring my neck afterwards.

"We're here! What do you guys think?" Aunt Alice cooed as soon as we pulled into a parking lot. I looked up to see where we had gone.

Aunt Alice was parking at an O'Charley's… a place I hadn't been to in a while. It was one of my favorite restaurants, but for the purpose of saving money my mom and I hardly ever went out to eat unless it was some kind of special occasion.

"Oh, and everything is on me today," Alice announced as we were getting out of the car.

"Alice, you know Riley and I are perfectly capable of-" Mom tried to protest, but Aunt Alice cut her off by putting her hand up and shaking her head.

"Bella, you need to stop worrying about people getting things for you. Because it isn't going to stop. I am paying for this lunch, so you had better march yourself right in there, eat whatever the hell you want, and deal with it," Aunt Alice snapped, and she narrowed her eyes at my mom menacingly until Mom finally caved with a sigh.

"Alright," she grudgingly agreed.

"Excellent!" Aunt Alice grinned and looped her arms through Aunt Rosalie and Mom's. I walked by my mother's side the whole time, relishing in the joking smile on the adults' faces as we all marched into O'Charley's to eat our lunch.

We were having a good time, and eating plenty. It was a great lunch, until we started getting to deserts. Aunt Alice insisted that we have a full meal, so she was going to buy us all ice cream with hot fudge on it to top off our excellent food. I had no problem with it, and if my mother did, she did her best not to show it. That was when her cell phone rang.

X-x-X

_Bella_

My cell phone rang, and I flipped open to see the number. Several people turned their heads to gaze at our table in annoyance, and I bit my lip to hide my embarrassment. Seeing no point in avoiding the call, I clicked the green phone and held it to my ear.

"Hello?" I asked cheerfully, and all the people who had been staring at us returned to their meals. Alice, Rosalie, and Riley were all still watching me carefully – they seemed to be as confused as I was about this mysterious call.

"Miss Swan?" It was a voice I vaguely recognized, but it wasn't someone I had been in contact with recently. I tried to figure out who it was as I responded.

"Yes, this is her speaking."

"This is Officer Embry Call from the Chicago Metropolitan Police Department," Officer Embry Call informed me, and a block of ice slid into my stomach. "We tried calling your home phone just a few minutes ago, and nobody was home. You gave your cell phone number a long time ago, so I hope you aren't alarmed that I'm calling."

It was too late for that. "That's fine," I said, my voice sounding hoarse. Instantly Alice, Rosalie, and my daughter leaned in, looking intense. Riley looked worried, and I couldn't help but wondering what my face looked like right now.

"I assume you're familiar with the name James Wilson. Am I right, Miss Swan?" Officer Call asked me.

James Wilson. James. The man who I'd thought I'd loved. The man who I'd given my virginity to. The man who almost killed my daughter. How could I forget? "Yes, you're right," I whispered. Riley looked really worried now, and she took my hand under the table, and squeezed it. I could hardly manage giving any pressure back. Alice's eyebrows furrowed anxiously, and Rosalie frowned. I could only imagine that they were worried about me.

"Twelve years ago he was arrested on the charges of assault, illegal possession of firearms, and attempted murder of an adolescent," Officer Call informed me. Once again, that was a fact I simply hadn't forgotten. "You gave us your contact information just in case we ever needed to contact you. In all cases like this one, the police department likes to contact victims before we release the prisoner."

"R-Release?" I stuttered out, my eyes widening. All the blood left my face, and went to my stomach where it boiled and churned. I felt like I was going to throw up. Riley squeezed my hand under the table again, and now my two friends looked really worried about me. "What are you talking about?"

"James Wilson's sentence is about to be expired, Miss Swan. He was sentenced to twelve years in the county jail, and then would be released from custody with a month of observed parole," said Officer Call. "In exactly three weeks time, Mr. Wilson will be released. We wanted to let you know."

"Thank you," I murmured, and I felt like if I said another word I was going to throw up.

"You're quite welcome Miss Swan. If you have any questions, you can contact me at…" He gave me a phone number, which I wrote down on a napkin using a pen that was in my purse. "Please feel free to call, Miss Swan. It was a pleasure speaking with you." With this, I clipped the phone shut. The half-eaten ice cream sitting in front of my didn't look so appetizing anymore. Nobody else had touched their food either in that five minute conversation, because all of their eyes were on me.

"Mom?" Riley questioned quietly. "You okay? Who was that?"

"The police department," I responded automatically. Riley tilted her head curiously, and Alice and Rosalie frowned.

"What the hell would they call you for?" Rosalie demanded, also very curious. "Was Riley caught for doing drugs on public property again?" She snickered, but nobody laughed at her joke. Riley was too focused on me, and Alice was seriously beginning to look worried.

"Bells?" It was Alice's turn now. "What's wrong?"

"They're going to release James. In three weeks," I whispered, my voice barely audible in the idle chitchat going on around our table. "He's going to be free."

I heard Riley's gasp, and a frightened whimper followed after that. Alice gasped too, her hands flying to her mouth in horror. Rosalie just scowled, and I saw her hands clench into fists on the table. All I felt was the need to make sure my daughter was alright, the terror in my heart, and the helplessness this knowledge gave me. James was going to be free in three short weeks, and a month after that he would be observed carefully by the police. That time, at least, I knew we would be safe – hopefully. It was after that I was worried about.

"Waitress?" Alice called, and our waitress, whose name was Kate, came bustling over. "Check, please." Kate nodded and scurried off. The little pixie turned her attention back to me and reached over the table to pat my arm gently, her green eyes soft and soothing. "Bells, don't worry, you're going to be alright."

"If that bastard even thinks about coming anywhere near you, I'll give him a thing or two to think about," Rosalie hissed defensively. Her eyes were suddenly lit with malice as she hunched her shoulders and narrowed her eyes. She looked very much like an angry cat with its back arched.

But I wasn't paying attention to them. My eyes were on my daughter, and her eyes were on me.

In that one look, I could tell that she was afraid. Her chocolate brown eyes were wide, and all the blood had left her face too. Her frame was rigid, and she had a death-grip on my hand. Her ice cream was too forgotten as she stared up at me with terror in her eyes.

Kate, the waitress, came back with a receipt. She laid it on our table, oblivious to the panicked situation going on there. "Thank you for dining at O'Charley's," she said daintily before sauntering off to tend to another table. Alice absentmindedly pulled it over to her and put two twenties on the bill and then pulled all three of us out of the booth and swiftly led us out the door. I hardly noticed.

I didn't realize I was shaking until Alice gently tugged on my arm. "C'mon, Bella," she said reassuringly. "We're going back to the theater, and we're going to tell Jasper, Emmett, and Edward. They'll be able to help. You're going to be okay. We have three weeks and a whole month after that. You and Riley are going to be alright until then. You have to walk. Let's go." I felt like an animal being herded.

Riley's hand was still in mine as the pair of us staggered to Alice's sleek black car, and Alice opened the door for us. Rosalie got in the passenger seat without a word, fuming. I thought I heard a few curses towards James under her breath, but I couldn't be sure. Alice started up the car as I buckled myself in, and helped Riley get her seatbelt on – she seemed so in shock that she couldn't move. I didn't really blame her.

Alice sped back to the theater, and as soon as we reached it, she yanked the door open and pulled us out. Wrapping each arm around Riley and my waists, and led us into the theater. Rosalie stalked after us, her blue eyes still narrowed.

"Rose, babe! I missed you," Emmett cooed as soon as we came through the door. He tried to wrap his arms around her and kiss her, but she stormed past him, and he stuck out his lip in a pout. "What did I do?" he asked.

"Just come with us," Rosalie instructed him harshly. "Get Jasper and Edward and tell them to meet us in Bella's office. If they're not here, Em, damn it call them. We have an emergency on our hands." Then she turned her attention back to us and helped Alice take us into my office.

"I… um, okay," Emmett said. He seemed to notice that something was up, so he went scurrying off towards the green room.

X-x-X

_Edward_

"Edward!" Emmett came rushing towards me, his face flushed like he had been doing a lot of running. I was just about to get into my rented Volvo when I heard his shout. I raised my head curiously.

"Emmett? What's going on?" I asked, worried.

Emmett was panting when he came up to me. "Damn it, Edward, I looked everywhere for you and Jasper said you'd gone to lunch and your fucking cell phone wasn't on. Then I asked Angela and she said you'd just come out to your car. Rose is super pissed, and Alice and Bella and Riley are like dead looking. Rose said I had to get you and Jasper in Bella's office because there's some kind of emergency…"

That was all I needed to hear. If there was an emergency, and Bella was involved, then I had to be there. I rushed off back towards the theater after slamming my door shut and I heard Emmett curse behind me and then his heavy footsteps as he rushed after me.

I stormed into the theater, my eyes wide. Fear mounted in my stomach as I tried to figure out what was wrong. Had Bella been hurt? Had Riley gotten horribly sick? Had my baby sister Alice injured herself? Worries swirled around in my head as I barged into Bella's small office space. My fears were instantly relieved, only to be replaced by the anxiety I felt when I saw Bella and Riley's miserable and frightened expressions.

Jasper was already inside, his arms around Bella as he murmured to her. Jealousy bubbled like acid in my stomach as I watched him. Alice was hovering over Riley, quietly saying reassuring things in the young teenager's ear. Rosalie stood against the wall, her arms folded tightly across her chest. Emmett pushed past me and wound his arms around her waist. He too looked worried.

"What the hell is going on?" Emmett demanded.

"James," Jasper said tersely. "The bastard is going to be released from jail in three weeks."

James… the name sounded familiar, and suddenly I remembered Bella telling me about him and the horrible things he had done. How she had gone out with him, had sex with him, and then how he had shot Riley in the shoulder, nearly killing the three-year old at the time. Anger bubbled in my stomach at the thought of that monster getting within a hundred miles of Bella. It must have shown in my expression, because Jasper looked surprised when he saw it. He frowned, glanced at Bella and then back at me. I felt no desire to see if he made the connection or not.

"Bella, don't worry," I said quietly as I knelt before her and her daughter.

Bella raised her head, and looked at me with her beautiful brown eyes. They were glistening with frightened tears. Our eyes locked, and I noticed that her muscles slowly loosened as she gazed at me. As gently as I could, I laid my hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile.

"You're going to be alright," I murmured. "I won't let him touch you. I promise. I won't let him hurt Riley, either. It's going to be alright."

By G-d, she looked like she believed it too. Jasper scowled, but he seemed pleased that his sister was appeased slightly. He narrowed his eyes at me, and I saw Alice move from Riley to rub his arms.

"Jazzy, it's okay," she crowed gently. "Edward can take care of Bella. You don't need to worry about him hurting her. You're on the same side now." I heard Jasper mutter something in reply, and Alice clicking her tongue impatiently. My eyes were still on the frightened beauty in front of me.

"Bella, do you believe me?" I asked.

She nodded, and let out a shaky sigh. Riley, who had been sitting in a chair not too far away, came over and curled up into her mother's side. She looked so frightened, and I sighed. Looking between beautiful Bella and her daughter, I said,

"Riley, you and your mother can head home. You don't need to be in rehearsal this afternoon. Go and take the rest of today off, alright?"

Riley looked at me with such gratefulness in her eyes that a small smile spread across my face. She managed a faint one back.

"Edward…" Bella was looking at me, her brown eyes wary like she still wasn't sure what she was going to say. I observed her carefully as she continued to speak, captured in the soft whispers of her voice. "Edward, I… I was wondering if you would come home with Riley and me," she murmured. I was caught off-guard by the request, and I blinked rapidly. Had I heard this angel correctly. When she saw my expression, she blushed. "I just… I would feel safer if you were there with us. Will you, please? You don't have to, and I feel horrible for making you leave rehearsal, but…"

How could I refuse? I put a finger to my mouth to signal her to stop talking. "Bella, if you need me to come home with you, even to make you feel safe, I'll do it. You don't need to say another word. Alice." I straightened and looked at my little sister with a pleading expression. "Could you run the rest of today? My binder is still in the audience, so if you could just follow that and make sure that everything is running smoothly, that would be great."

Alice nodded. "Of course, Edward. Jazz will help me, won't you Jazzy?" She batted her eyelashes at her fiancé, and he gazed at me sternly for a few more seconds before letting out a sigh.

"Yeah, sure," he said, though I wasn't sure he was saying it in admittance to me or saying it in agreement to Alice. I took it as both.

"Come on," I said gently, helping Bella and Riley to their feet. "Let's get you home."

* * *

EOC: Ack, sorry for the really short Bella and Edward parts, but I couldn't really write it any other way, you know? What did you guys think? I wrote most of this at my uncle's house while watching Oh Oh Oh Sexy Vampire on YouTube and listening to Viva la Vida by Coldplay. I have no life. XD Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Hoorah! Until next update. – Dark and Wild


	11. Chapter 11

Yeah, so… this took me a REALLY long time to finish, as you can tell. I didn't get many reviews last chapter, and that made me sad. But, now it's summer so hopefully I'll be writing a lot more. I can't guarantee that updates are going to be coming as quickly with this story, since I'm not really that faithful to my stories. But I'll try for all you readers, 'kay? But before I begin, I have two things to say. One: Maximum Ride is a great book series if any of you haven't read it already. It's super funny and adorable and awesome (except the last book got a little weird for me, but it was still fairly good). And it's going to be a movie!!! Two: I don't own these characters, except Riley. Stephenie Meyer is the genius here, not me. On with the long lost chapter!

Chapter Song: _Our Eyes_, By: Teddy Geiger

X-x-X  
**Chapter 11: A Breakthrough**

_Edward_

"Bella, you should let me drive," I murmured as I guided her and her trembling daughter out to her weathered red pickup truck. "You're in no shape to be driving. Sit with Riley."

She gave me a look so thankful that I couldn't help but smile a little bit. But once more I felt a stab of pity in my stomach. I could only imagine how terrible, how frightened this woman… no, this _angel_ must feel. Her ex-boyfriend, who had tried to murder her and her daughter, was going to be released in three weeks to possibly continue planning her demise. The thought of anyone doing that to Bella or Riley made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

I opened up the back door to her pickup truck, and gestured for her keys. Her hand trembling, it took Bella nearly two minutes to even find her keys and hand them to me. Pity and anger struck at me again with the same thoughts flashing through my mind.

"Thank you, Edward," she managed to murmur, before stumbling into the back of her truck.

Riley just gave me a dead sort of look, but there was so much fear in her eyes that I nearly winced. I wondered, for a split second, whether she would be able to continue in her acting. I had never seen someone so terrified. "Get in," I said, but it wasn't a demand. I did my best to keep my voice gentle, and it seemed to work. She eyed me for a minute before finally climbing in after her mother.

I gently shut the door behind them, and climbed into the driver's seat. I could practically hear their frightened thoughts behind me as I started up the car, and I desperately tried to think of something that could take their minds off of this horrific revelation.

I was coming up empty.

So the drive to their house was spent in silence. Occasionally Bella would whisper something reassuring to Riley, or I would hear Riley shudder and whimper. I felt so sorry for them, and I wanted nothing more than to pull over on the side of the highway and pull them both into my arms. They needed to be protected.

I pulled up to their driveway, and turned off the truck. Bella and Riley didn't react, and so I got out my door and opened their door for them.

Riley climbed out first, and then Bella. Without warning, Bella threw her arms around me and let out a sob. A couple walking their dog turned to stare at us, so I gently urged Bella inside where prying eyes wouldn't see her breakdown. Riley followed, looking almost like a zombie.

"I'm s-sorry," Bella sobbed once we were inside. "I'm j-just s-so scared, I didn't want Jazz to…"

"Shh, Bella, it's perfectly fine," I murmured, trying to get her to calm down. What she needed was a glass of water and to relax a bit. She was probably in shock, and I didn't want this to effect her permanently. My father was a doctor at the Chicago ER and I knew a few things to help with these things. I wanted Bella to be fine, and I knew she didn't want to be taken to the hospital. "I don't mind. Just let me know what you need."

"Riley…" Bella turned away from me and pulled herself out of my arms. She enveloped her daughter in a protective hug and breathed something into her daughter's ear.

That was when Riley broke down.

I had never seen a teenage girl cry… I had heard Alice sobbing in her room from time to time when we were younger. But I had never actually seen something like this. So I stood there dumbly as I watched the fit unfold.

Riley sobbed more uncontrollably than Bella had. The tears flowed more freely, and it was much more pitiful to watch. She clung to her mother like I'd never seen a daughter cling to anything before. She buried her face in Bella's chest, her entire body shaking with sobs.

"Riley, honey, it's okay," I heard Bella tell her gently. "We're going to make it through this."

"What if he comes after us?" Riley sobbed. "What if he tries to kill me again? What if he takes you away from me?"

"I won't let that happen," I announced, and both mother and daughter looked at me. "And neither will Jasper or Alice or Rosalie or Emmett. You two are very important to them, and me too. I haven't been here very long, so I'm not sure how much my promise means to you… but I swear that we won't let James get anywhere near you."

Just at the mention of his name, Bella and Riley winced together. But then Bella sent me a hesitant smile and I was taken aback for a moment by her tortured beauty. Even though her face was tearstained and her hair was a complete mess, she still looked like a goddess from the heavens. She pulled her daughter closer and reached out her hand for mine. A tad confused, I took her hand and she pulled me to them. I wrapped my arms around them both and held them close just as I had wanted to about twenty minutes ago.

"Thank you, Edward," Bella said.

"Thanks," Riley mumbled.

I smiled. It was like a family moment I'd never had. For a moment, I felt like a father… and a husband. Like we were a family.

"I'll, um… I'll get some snacks from the fridge. Would you, um… like to stay for dinner, Edward? It's the least I c-can do for dragging you out here…" Bella began.

"Don't worry about it," I answered. Her face fell, and I decided to clarify my meaning. "Bella, you need to relax. Let me cook dinner."

"You can cook?" Riley asked bluntly as she wiped her tears away, but I could tell by her expression that she wasn't completely over this whole thing. Neither was Bella.

I laughed, and tried to lighten the mood. "Better than you can, I imagine," I teased her, and reluctantly backed away from them both. "You two need to relax. I'll cook up something from the Cullen recipe book to calm you down. How does French onion soup sound?" I asked them gently.

Riley managed a small smile at my failed attempt at a joke, but brightened at the mention of the meal I had in mind. "I haven't had that stuff in forever," she admitted in a small voice. She seemed to look a little better, and there was life again in her brown eyes. "That would be great."

"French onion soup is good," Bella said softly. "Riley, honey, why don't you go and play Guitar Hero for a while? That always calms you down." She gently touched her daughter's shoulder and kissed the side of her head. Riley looked at her mother for a minute with an unreadable expression, and then she retreated into the living room. Assuming that Bella would follow her, I turned away and headed for the kitchen.

Footsteps behind me alerted me to the fact that Bella had followed _me_ instead.

She followed me all the way into the kitchen, and I could feel her eyes on me as I began looking through her cupboards looking for the ingredients that I needed to make their French onion soup. It was a good few minutes until I had everything I needed, and Bella still hadn't said a word. She just watched me with those damned brown eyes of hers.

"Bella, where do you keep the pans?" I asked her quietly.

Bella pointed to a cupboard that was to the right of my leg. I bent down and rummaged through her pans before I found the proper soup pan that I needed to make dinner.

"Edward."

I turned my head. Bella was still watching me, but there was a new way she regarded me with her eyes. There was a new pain there, something that I couldn't identify. I was at her side immediately, trying to figure out what was wrong.

"What is it? Are you hurt?" I instantly demanded.

Bella shook her head. "I just… thank you, Edward," she murmured, surprising me once again as she always did. Was there one reaction I could predict out of this woman? "You gave up your entire afternoon for us all because I asked you to, and I feel terrible about it…"

"Bella, Bella, you shouldn't worry about it," I reassured her as I began filling the pan with water. "I'm doing this because I want to. You and Riley need to be helped, and I'll do whatever I can to do that."

Bella continued to watch me with those beautiful brown eyes, biting her lip as I began gathering ingredients from her cupboards. I felt a little strange, looking through their kitchen things, since none of this was mine. I almost felt like I was intruding. I reminded myself that this was helping Bella, and that cheered me up instantly. I got a knife and began chopping the onions like I always did when I started off this recipe.

"Mom?"

Riley came into the kitchen now, her eyes wide. Bella instantly turned to her, and I watched them out of the corner of my eye in fascination.

"What is it, sweetie?" Bella asked quietly. There was such a different tone with which she addressed her daughter than how she addressed everyone else.

"I… I was just wondering if I could… talk to Edward… for a sec." Riley looked up at her mother with the same brown eyes her mother possessed.

Bella was surprised by the request, as was I. Riley didn't seem like she was one to stray from her mother, especially in a time like this. I had been here for hardly more than a week or two, and I was completely taken by surprise by what she wanted.

"Um… alright, honey," Bella said uncertainly, and kissed her daughter on the top of the head. "As long as Edward doesn't mind." She glanced at me anxiously.

"Of course I don't," I said instantly, beginning to work on the next set of ingredients - never stopping my work.

Bella took one last panicked look at her daughter, before leaving the room and bustling up the stairs. Riley remained silent throughout this entire process - the only clue that I had that she was still in the kitchen with me was the sound of a kitchen chair being pulled out and sat in. As discreetly as I could, I peeked through the corner of my eye to see what she was doing.

Riley was simply sitting there, tapping her fingers on the table in a continuous rhythm. Her eyes, however, were on me.

"Edward?"

I pretended like I hadn't looked and glanced over my shoulder at her. "Yes, Riley? What did you want to talk to me about?" I questioned.

There was a slight pause before she responded. "Well, I… I know my mom probably already told you this, but… um, I just wanted to thank you for everything. Not just for coming home with us, but for coming to Chicago and becoming a part of… well, I don't know what all of us are - I guess you could say the family," she said. "I'm glad you're trying to help my mom, because she really needs it. And I'm glad you listened."

"Listened?" I asked, confused. "To what?"

"To our story." Riley's voice came out as a whisper, and I wasn't even sure I heard it. "Mom told me that she told you. And that you took it pretty well, and took care of her the rest of the night."

"Riley…" I gently set down the ingredients I was working on and turned to Riley. I leaned against the counter and watched the young teenager with careful eyes. "There isn't any need to thank me, honestly. I'm only doing what any other reasonable human being would do. I'm not worthy of your praise. Believe me." I turned away from her and sighed, remembering a bit of my past as I began working with the soup again.

"I don't know what you could have possibly done that makes you any less of a human being," Riley protested, though her voice was quiet and weak. "But either way, you still have my thanks. And, if I tell you something, would you promise not to tell my mother?"

I was surprised by her request, but saw no reason to deny her. "Of course, Riley."

"I want you to be with my mother."

I almost dropped the knife I was holding in surprise. I looked over my shoulder at Riley in disbelief, but she only looked at me with an indifference that frankly I found a little frightening.

"You heard me right," she murmured, her eyes still on me. A faint smile was on her face now. "I want you to be with my mother, Edward. She needs you."

"I… Riley…" I began, but she cut me off.

"I know her better than she knows herself," Riley continued. "And you're exactly what she needs, even if she doesn't want to admit it. My mom is a bit blind nowadays when it comes to her own feelings, and you can understand why. Once my mom was as carefree as any other woman in the world. But after Jacob… and Laurent… she… well, she was never the same after that. I love my mom more than anything, but I want things back to the way they were. I want my old mom back. And so do Aunt Alice, Uncle Jasper, and everyone else. I think you're the one that can help her."

I was speechless, and completely taken aback by Riley's statement. After the boat and finding out Bella's story, I really had no intentions of attempting to move in on her. She needed her space, and I respected that. But now, her daughter wanted me to move in on her again. I didn't want to hurt Bella - she seemed like she'd been hurt far too many times. She was a beautiful woman with a beautiful soul. I didn't want to mar that.

And quite frankly, I didn't want to hurt her daughter either. Those two were so intricately connected with each other that I knew that if I hurt Bella, I'd hurt Riley too.

"Riley, honey?" Bella appeared in the doorway, oblivious to the conversation her daughter and I were just having. "Uncle Jasper called. He wants to talk to you on the phone."

I hadn't even heard the phone ring.

"Okay. Love you, Mom," Riley murmured as she got up. She and her mother exchanged a hug, and Bella gently kissed her daughter on the forehead.

"I love you too, sweetie."

Riley left the two of us alone again, and I turned back around to deal with the soup. I didn't want anything to burn, so I threw the next group of ingredients in. It wouldn't be long now before the soup was finished.

Bella remained silent for the rest of my cooking session. Neither of us really wanted to break the silence. Her silence was thoughtful, it seemed. Riley didn't return to the kitchen either. Now, more than ever, I wished that I could read minds to see what these two were thinking.

The silence wasn't eerie, but rather comfortable. I still felt so strange being here, invading on Bella and Riley's lifestyle. I had to remind myself that I was here helping them.

When the soup was finally finished fifteen minutes later, I glanced back at Bella. She didn't even need me to say something out loud. She got up and exited the room in search of Riley. As I spooned out three different bowls of French onion soup, Bella and Riley came back in together. Riley instantly got drinks as Bella retrieved silverware. It was like we were a team, without even knowing it. It was almost disturbing - the way we worked in synchronization.

X-x-X Bella

Truth be told, I was scared to death.

James. That was the only name flashing in and out of my mind at constant intervals. Memories kept flashing through my mind. Of James and I fighting. Of James hurting Riley. Of James' last words before he was walked out the door by police officers. I shuddered every time I thought of it.

The only two facts that were keeping me sane at the moment were that Riley was with me and that Jasper, Edward, Alice, Emmett, and Rosalie would all to their damnedest to protect us.

But it still wasn't enough.

When Edward finally served our soup, I sat next to Riley, and Edward sat on my other side. He handed me my bowl of soup, and I accepted it with a small smile and a nod. Riley remained indifferent to everything, though I knew that look meant she was distressed. It killed me to know she was in pain.

Dinner went by in almost complete silence. Edward tried to start conversation a few times, probably to lighten the mood, but it died pretty quickly. None of us were really in the mood for talking. Not anymore. Not now.

"I should probably get going," Edward murmured after he finished his bowl of soup. He was leaning back in his chair, fiddling with his napkin. "I'll call Alice."

I didn't protest as he drew out his cell phone and called his sister. I didn't hear their conversation, or really even paid attention to it. I kept my attention on Riley, who looked like she was going to fall asleep in her seat. I forgot how tired she could be after crying an extensive amount.

Ever so gently, I reached out to touch my daughter's arm. She looked at me with that dull, exhausted look in her eyes.

"Do you want me to get you to bed, sweetie?" I asked softly.

She nodded and gradually stood up from her chair. She stumbled in her exhaustion, and I instantly stood up to catch her. But someone beat me to it.

Edward was there, the cell phone gone from his hand. He held Riley underneath her arms, and she used him as leverage to get herself back up. She tried to shrug him off to continue walking, but he held her firmly. My heart skipped a beat until Edward gently said,

"You're too tired to get up those stairs by yourself. Let me carry you."

Riley was too tired to even agree with him. She simply slumped against Edward, her eyes fluttering closed as he gently swung her into his arms. He looked at me questioningly, and I managed a small smile and a nod.

It touched me - somewhere I had never really been touched before - that he cared enough to ask (even if it was silently) whether or not he could carry Riley up the stairs. I wished that I could read into his mind to see what he was thinking right now, because whatever it was, I wanted to be a part of it. Looking at the two of them, I realized that it looked natural. Sweet. Like a father cradling his overgrown daughter.

_Father_.

The instant I thought that word, my mind once again went to James.

It wasn't that I _wanted_ to think about him and what he had done, but it was simply something my mind did whenever I was frightened. I thought of how James had pulled out that gun, how he'd loosed the shot that had scarred my beloved daughter forever…

But I could see right now that Edward was nothing like that.

I followed him as he climbed the stairs with my daughter in his arms. Silently he glanced over his shoulder when he reached the top with a quizzical look on his face.

"Second door on the left," I murmured as quietly as I could.

Edward nodded and set off, gently nudging Riley's bedroom door open with his foot. I watched from the doorway as he walked over to Riley's bed, set her down in the tangled covers, and somehow managed to pull the sheets and blankets around her and tuck them into her sides. It was like a scene from the perfect ABC family movie. Edward stood up at his full height and returned to me at the door. I let him back through, smiled one last time at my sleeping daughter, and softly shut the door to her room.

"Thank you for that, Edward," I murmured. "She needed that. More than you could ever know. I did too."

"Bella." I looked up. There was emotion, conflicted emotion, in his beautiful green eyes that I couldn't decipher. I bit my lip, and he gently reached up to touch my face. "I just… I wanted you to know that I would never let _anything_ happen to you or your daughter. I know you've heard it a million times, but I…"

I cut him off by leaning up on my tiptoes and pressing my lips to his.

We were both surprised by my action, to say the least. I had surprised myself with that simple act of bravery and boldness. It had been a long time since I had kissed anyone, really, somewhere other than the cheek. But I was mostly surprised in the fact that for some reason, I had wanted to do this. It wasn't a random sexual impulse like a teenager had sometimes… it was pure attraction for Edward. Just Edward. Nobody else.

His arms wrapped around me, and strangely enough, I felt safe there. My hands went to his shoulders as our lips molded together, neither one really wanting entrance. This simple kiss was enough for both of us, it seemed.

An impatient knock on the door, no doubt from a devilish little pixie named Alice who sadly lived two streets down from us, interrupted Edward and me. With a charming smile, Edward bent down slightly to kiss my forehead.

"I promise," he whispered one more time before heading down the stairs and out the door to his sister.

Wait. What had just happened?

* * *

EOC: Aw, snaps! So, if you caught it in this chapter, I hinted at the fact that Edward has some secrets of his own. I decided that he couldn't be entirely perfect, so I have a history for him thought up. Hopefully I'll feel like updating this again soon, because I'm thinking of all these cool events I want to happen to motivate me to keep writing. I hope you liked this chapter, and I ask you to click that adorable little green review button down below to tell me what you think.

Also, I'm going to add one more part to this note. I'd like to thank lissybby11 for her review a few days ago that really got me motivated to finish the chapter. Thanks! And all of you don't forget to review!!! See you guys next time! - Dark and Wild


	12. Chapter 12

So here I am again with a new update. I'm fairly sure that all of you guys are really happy about that. Anyways, just thought I'd like to say that Stephenie Meyer owns everyone except for Riley. On with the chapter! By the way, in one or two of the reviews, some people said they loved the Edward-Riley/father-daughter moments. There's going to be a lot more of those in the coming chapters. Just to let you guys know. ^_^

Chapter Song: _Angel_, By: Sarah McLachlan

X-x-X  
**Chapter 12: Ready**

_Bella_

I awoke the next morning to find that Riley had snuck into my bedroom. She was sleeping, curled up, beside me in my bed. Her breathing shallow and short, so I could tell she was having some sort of nightmare. I glanced at my digital clock on my nightstand, which read the glaring red numbers 7:26. I glanced out the window. It was storming outside.

"Riley, honey, wake up," I murmured, as I gently shook her shoulder.

Riley's eyes flew open, and she shot up into a sitting position, her eyes wide and panicked. I felt a pang of remorse - I hardly had any nightmares anymore now that Edward was here. And yet, here was my daughter, still waking up with dark circles under her eyes with terror clear in her expression. I hated having her to go through this, and I wished I could protect her from all of her fears.

"Are you okay, honey?" I asked her anxiously.

Riley nodded and ran her hands over her face. "I'm fine, Mom," she answered, even though I could tell she was lying. "We have to go in today, don't we?" She looked at me with an exhausted expression, and I could tell the nightmare had prevented her from getting any real sleep.

"We don't have to. Everyone would understand," I offered.

Riley shook her head. "I don't want to look like I can't handle a day of work," she instantly protested as she climbed out of bed in her flannel pajamas. "I can handle it."

I sat up and frowned. I didn't want Riley pushing herself. Because, like me, she tended to not let others know when she couldn't handle something for fear she'd be made fun of or thought of as too weak. She was stubborn about it too, even more so than me. I folded my arms tightly across my chest and observed her for a second. She mimicked me.

"I don't want you to act today if it's too much," I warned her.

Riley rolled her eyes, a trait she definitely inherited from me. "I can handle it, Mom. I'm not a baby anymore."

_On the contrary,_ I thought to myself, _you're always going to be a baby to me. My baby._ I knew that was what every mother thought of her child, but frankly in my mind the saying fit our case better than anyone else's.

"Alright," I agreed cautiously. "But you remember that if you feel tired at all, or if you feel like you can't act anymore, you tell me or Edward or someone immediately. Promise me you'll do that."

"I promise," she grumbled before going to go get dressed.

When we met downstairs fifteen minutes later for breakfast, we were both dressed and ready to go. And, in my case, I was also ready to tell her something that I had forgotten about until this very moment.

"Riley, can I talk to you about something?" I asked uncertainly as I handed Riley her plate of bacon and eggs.

"Um… sure," she said before beginning to scarf down her breakfast. "Wha iz it?" she then asked through a mouthful of eggs.

"Well… er…" I thought of how to word this as I sat down across from her with my own plate of breakfast. "Riley… how would you feel if…" She was waiting for me to go on, but I couldn't bring myself to say it. "How would you feel if Edward and I… if we were… together?"

Riley swallowed her mouthful of food and squealed. "Are you serious? Are you going to ask him out?" she demanded with excitement.

I shrugged. "I was thinking about it," was my answer. "But only because of what happened last night."

Riley's eyes grew to the size of tennis balls. "Why? What happened last night? Tell me!" She sounded like a miniature Alice right then. I instantly wondered how much time she _really_ spent with her excitable aunt.

"Well…" I considered how to word this, but thinking about it merely made a smile form on my face. "Edward and I, after he put you to bed… He promised me that he would never let anything happen to us, and then we kissed." I paused, awaiting the verdict of my loving daughter.

There was all silence for a moment before Riley exploded. "Mom, that's great!" A grin spread across her face too as she jumped up from her chair. I had never seen so much life in her chocolate brown eyes. "I'm so happy for you! You have to ask him out today. You _have_ to. Then he'll really be a part of the family, and we can play Guitar Hero all day long. This is going to be great!" And, if I thought about, I had never seen her so excited for a man to be in my life.

"_Riley, I'm bringing Laurent home tonight, so I want you to be on your best behavior," I said to thirteen-year old Riley, who was perched at the kitchen island with a dull expression as she finished up her homework._

"_I'm always good, aren't I?" she grumbled._

_I didn't understand it. Riley was usually very upbeat, but now that I had brought up Laurent… well, she wasn't so bubbly anymore. Had I said something wrong? What had I done? I sighed and pulled up a stool beside her and watched her do her homework for a minute before asking, "What's wrong? Why aren't you happy about this?"_

"_Because I hear the way you talk about him," Riley finally said after a moment's silence. Her answer confused me, and I tilted my head curiously. What did she mean by that?_

_It was as if she had read my mind. "You don't talk about him like a normal woman talks about a man. You don't talk like you're in love with him. You talk like you're obsessed with him. There's a big difference - and personally, from the things you've told me, he doesn't sound like a very nice guy. He sounds like a prick to me," she said with a tone that made it sound like she knew everything when it came to dating. _

"_What would you know about love?" I demanded._

_It was very rare, me fighting with Riley. But this was just one of those times when I didn't understand her young teen logic. And when I didn't understand something, I got frustrated with it. Especially when the things I didn't understand dealt with my daughter._

"_Not much, but I know enough to know that you're not in love with Laurent," Riley snapped, returning my heated tone with one of her own. "I don't want you to get hurt again, Mom, and you keep setting yourself up. By the sounds of it, he's a rotten man with a rotten personality and you're not in love with him!" She glared at me with a look I had never seen from her before. My hands clenched into fists. _

"_Riley Renee Swan!" I exclaimed. "Don't talk to me like that!"_

"_Like what?" she shot back. "Like I don't approve? Because I don't."_

"_You have no right to tell me who to date," I growled. _

"_I'm not trying to! I'm just saying Laurent isn't the man for you, and you're digging yourself a hole that is way too deep!" She was standing now, her own hands clenched into fists. I'm pretty sure that if you looked in a mirror, we would be mirroring each other._

_A quiet knock on the door interrupted our argument. Riley scowled and sat back on her stool, returning to her homework as if our argument had never happened. The only sign that she was angry was the fact that her fists were clenched around her pencil._

"_Why don't you call Aunt Alice?" I grumbled, already feeling sorry for our argument. "She can take you somewhere so you don't have to deal with him."_

_As I began walking away, I saw her eyes soften and her grip on the pencil relaxed. "I'm not leaving you alone with him," I thought I heard her say before I opened up the door to see Laurent's smiling face as he handed me a red rose._

"Mom!"

Riley's snapping fingers appeared in front of my face and I looked at her in surprise. She comprehended my expression for a second before blinking herself and frowning.

"Day-mare?" she asked instantly.

I shrugged and looked away, not wanting to tell her what it had been about. It couldn't really be considered a day-mare, but simply a memory. But she didn't need to know that, really. I looked at her plate and smiled.

"You should eat some more. You have acting to do today, young lady," I told her.

Riley grinned and began shoveling food into her mouth. I was pretty sure she inherited that from her grandfather Charlie and her uncle Jasper. They were the only two people I knew, besides Emmett, that ate like that. As I watched her eat, I thought about what had happened last night and what Riley had said about it.

Riley had suggested, well _demanded_ really, that I speak to Edward. That I ask him out.

Perhaps I really was ready. Ready for a man to be in my life again, for Riley to have a father, and for so many other things. Maybe I was ready to try this again. Everything that everyone else had said about Edward had seemed like nice comments or remarks, like he was a sincerely good person. Of course, he had left Chicago when he was younger, and had hurt Alice's feelings by doing so, but… I was sure he had his reasons.

I had my reasons too for the things I did.

And so, with that little thought, I realized that I was ready. I was ready to get through this obstacle course and reach the finish line. I was ready to be happy, and so was Riley.

"I'll ask him," I announced.

"Huh?" Riley asked through a mouthful of bacon, her expression confused.

"I'm going to ask him. Edward. I'm ready for this," I explained instantly.

Her eyes lit up with sudden understanding and a huge grin lit up her face. She swallowed her food, jumped up from her chair, and rushed to me. She threw herself into my arms with that same grin on her face as she hugged me to the point where I could hardly breathe.

"I'm so happy for you, Mom," she whispered against my shirt. "I really like Edward, and I think you're really going to like him too."

"I think I'm going to like him too," I murmured back, kissing the top of her head.

Riley pulled away then, giving me that confident smile she always wore when she knew something was going to go right. "Then let's go to work and get Edward to fall in love with you."

X-x-X

"Bells, you alright?" Jasper was waiting for us at the theater, and was instantly there the second I opened the door. He looked worried, and I knew it was because he hadn't been there last night. Jazz was always worried about Riley and me - and he made it his job to make us safe. I could tell it made him uncomfortable that last night, he'd allowed Edward to come home and protect me instead.

"I'm fine, Jazz," I told him as he helped me out of my truck. I gave him a quick hug before turning around and unlocking Riley's door. "Just a little shocked."

"Not scared?" I could feel his suspicious glare burning into the back of my head.

"I'd be lying to you if I said I wasn't," I murmured as I opened up Riley's door for her. She hadn't heard our conversation, so as she hopped out she grinned at her uncle.

"Hey, Uncle Jazz."

"Hey there, Riles," Jasper answered. I turned around just in time to see him envelope her in a crushing hug. When she started wheezing for breath he released her and grinned right back. There was tenderness in his eyes whenever he looked at Riley that I only saw whenever he looked at me.

Riley and her Uncle Jasper had always been close.

"_Bells, you awake?"_

_Before I could answer, he babbled out, "Dad went to get something to eat and… J-James went to work. I wanted to come and see if you were alright. And I kind of wanted to meet the baby. I'm so sorry I haven't been here yet, but with school and work and Maria, I haven't been able to stop by, and…"_

"_Jasper, calm down," I told him, cradling the newborn Riley in my arms from the hospital bed. My brother was always rambling these days - ever since he had started going out with Maria he never spoke with me around her. When we were alone, it was like he was making up for lost time by going on and on about things. Usually, Jazz was a really calming presence, but something about Maria changed him. But I kept my mouth shut, hoping that someday he'd keep his own mouth shut about James._

"_You mad at me, Bells?" Jasper asked anxiously._

"_Of course not, Jazz. Why would I be mad?"_

_Jasper closed the door behind him and looked at his feet, looking mortified. "I mean, the baby is three days old already and I haven't been by to see it," he said quietly. "I knew the kid was important to you…"_

"_Jazz, you can come meet _her_ now," I said instantly. "It's a girl. And her name is Riley. Come see." I held out the sleeping baby almost like a sacred offering._

_Jasper edged closer to the bed, almost as if he didn't want to get too close and upset the baby. But when he was close enough to see that the baby girl was sleeping, I saw his eyes soften and he stopped his edgy movements. In a swift few steps, he came to take Riley from my waiting hands._

_He picked her up with care - Charlie had told me that he'd had plenty of experience holding babies from holding me when I was just born._

"_Her name's Riley, you said?" he whispered, trying not to wake her now._

_I nodded with a smile. "Riley Renee Swan."_

"_Riley… you're a pretty baby aren't you?" he murmured with a soft smile in the bundle in his arm's direction. "Yes. A very pretty darlin', I think." He'd spent last summer down in Texas with Maria, so I figured he'd gotten the drawl from there._

_Riley stirred, restless in her sleep, and let out a little whimper._

"_Shh, shh, now little thing," he whispered as he cradled her tighter to his chest. "Don't you cry."_

"You ready for today, Riles?" Jasper asked brightly.

"You betcha, Uncle Jazz. Edward said yesterday that we'd get to do some fun scenes today. And in the afternoon they're doing an introduction to the chorus rehearsal thing, so I was hoping to follow you and Uncle Emmett around!" Riley replied excitedly. It was almost like her nightmare had never happened.

Jasper just laughed and ruffled her hair with a brightened expression. There were no traces of the worried conversation he'd just shared with me in his chocolate brown eyes that were so much like ours. "Sure, Riles. We'll be waiting for you after lunch. Got it?" He winked at her.

"Got it, Uncle Jazz!" Riley answered cheerfully with a returning wink.

"See you later, Bells. And let me know if something's bothering you." His expression added on silently, _"And I mean it."_ I nodded and only smiled in response.

"Of course, Jazz," I replied before he led us inside. As soon as we got backstage, Riley and I signed in and Riley instantly went to the stage, where she was to report in this morning for rehearsals.

When I got into my office, I was surprised to find Edward there, fiddling with a pencil as he sat at my desk. Apparently he'd been waiting for me. I shut the door behind me and cleared my throat quietly.

"Bella?" Edward turned his head to look at me, and the instant he saw me he stood. "I'm so sorry if I frightened you, but I wanted to speak with you about last night…"

I winced, wondering why he would possibly want to talk to me - unless it was a cruel but well-deserved rejection. I knew that even though I was a scared, and frightened woman, I shouldn't have kissed him like that. But his words from last night still echoed through my mind, and a bit of hope flickered in the pit of my stomach. I then mentally told myself over and over that I was ready for this - and that I had to ask him before my sense of bravado wore off.

"Actually, Edward, I wanted to speak with you too."

He paused, obviously letting me to continue first. I let out a hesitant sigh and then ran my fingers through my hair. Taking a deep breath, I let it out and began.

"Edward, I know last night shocked us both. I'm not here to say that I regret it, because actually the kiss got me to start thinking. About… about us. I spoke to Riley, and I thought about this so much over the past few hours. You're so gentle, loving, and you just seem to be there for me. You drove Riley and I home last night, and I'll never forget that for as long as I live. And I'm sorry if that annoyed you, having to take us home, but I wanted you to know I thought it was amazing. I think you're a marvelous human being, and I suppose I'm trying to say that I'm ready." I let out a sigh of relief at having finally spoken these words.

Edward looked shocked, and his emerald green eyes were wide. "Ready?" he asked, his voice rough with surprise. "Ready for… for what, Bella?"

I looked down at my feet before murmuring, "I'm ready to try again. I'm ready to try a relationship with you, Edward."

I heard an intake of breath and I peeked up to see what his reaction was. Edward was staring at me, jaw slack, with wide eyes. I didn't need to be psychic to know that he was shocked or surprise. Whether it was from my audacity or his joy at my proposition, it was still clear on his face.

"Bella, I…"

I knew what was coming. I blinked back tears and turned away from him. "It's alright. I… I understand. You don't want me in that sense, and I completely and totally-"

"Bella, I was going to say that I'm happy." Edward's firm voice caught me by surprise. "I'm happy that you're going to try again, with _me_ of all people. More than happy, in fact. I'm downright joyful and I feel like shouting this from the rooftops. Of course I will help you, I'll try with you. I'll make you the happiest woman on this planet because frankly, that's what you deserve. And… well, I was wondering if we could do a repeat of last night. The kiss. If you'll allow that."

I turned to face him, as it was my turn to be surprised. At the sight of my expression, I saw pink creep its way up his cheeks and I bit back a smile to myself. _I made Edward Cullen blush,_ I thought with a surprising bit of pride.

"Edward, I said I'm ready," I said, and decided that this was alright. I took a step closer to him. "And I meant it."

Edward smiled and opened his arms to me. Hesitantly but willingly, I went to him and felt his arms wrap around me. I felt safe, protected, for the first time in my life. When Jasper used to hold me when I was younger and needed comfort, I felt safe then too. But this was a different kind of safe. A loving safe. Something I hadn't had in… well, ever.

When his lips met mine, it was gentle and sweet. Our lips moved in sync as he held me to him with the gentlest of holds. Like last night, there were no tongues or entrances - merely moving lips.

I pulled away when I ran out of breath, and Edward smiled down at me. Then, to my surprise, he hugged me to his chest, tucking my head underneath his chin.

"I swear, Bella, I will make you feel like the best woman in the world. I'm going to do my damnedest to make you happy, and I promise on my own life that I will protect you and Riley from any danger this world has to offer," he murmured above me, and I closed my eyes - strangely content with his promise.

"I know you will," I whispered back, not sure if he heard me or not. I couldn't deny to myself that this was the best decision I had ever made in my life.

But I couldn't help but let my mind go back to James, and his haunting words before the police had dragged him out of the apartment.

"_You'll pay for this, bitch," _he had said.

I couldn't help but wonder if even Edward was enough to protect Riley and me from _that_.

* * *

EOC: Buahahahaha! I finished another chapter, and I'm so proud of myself. Very soon I shall be going back to school, but thankfully this semester will be the easiest of my high school career. The entire second half of my day are all fun, awesome classes like Creative Writing and Latin and stuff like that. Woot woot! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and Bella and Edward are finally together! The next big event is Jasper and Alice's wedding and James's releasing from prison. I'll try and update soon. - Dark and Wild


	13. Chapter 13

Aloha there, guys! I'm here with another update, which I'm sure many of you are happy about. I checked my stats today and there are about fifty favorites for this story and over sixty alerts! That makes me so happy, and everyone who reviews get huge kudos in my book! You guys keep my world going around, and I suppose I should keep yours going by continuing with the chapter, huh? Well, Stephenie Meyer owns everything, and I own none of the characters - except for Riley. On with the story!!! =D

**Chapter Song:** Feels Like Today, By: Rascal Flatts (Not really, I just sort of put it in here.)

X-x-X  
**Chapter 13: Preparations**

_Riley_

All I could think about was the fact that my mother was now going out with my director. How my mother was kissing my director. How my mother now invited my director to our home almost every night for dinner. How my mother was always so happy around him. How my mother always smiled when his name came up in conversation - she even smiled more about him than she did about me.

Of course, I wasn't jealous or anything.

But, as a fifteen-year old girl who happened to love her mother more than anyone in the world, I couldn't help but wonder what had changed to make her this way. My mom had never thrown herself so willingly into a relationship in her life.

It had been a week since my mother had officially asked Edward to be in a relationship with her. After he'd accepted, they'd been taking things gradually, like any other normal couple would. A few chaste kisses, holding hands… it was almost sickening to a girl like me. To an outsider, it actually might seem like they were taking things way too fast. But in this situation, anyone who knew my mother well enough understood that if she was ready for something, she threw herself into it without any second thoughts. She just seemed to be that kind of person.

Today was a Friday, and this was the scheduled day off for everyone in the theater.

Now, even though I knew that Edward and my mom had every intention of spending the day together today - asking innocent questions and having interesting conversations - I knew that it wasn't going to happen.

Mainly because of my Aunt Alice.

Her wedding was coming up in three weeks, and I honestly thought she was going to go insane. Of course, it had been her idea to bump the wedding date up, and at least she had everything picked out. She had her dress, a more-than-willing groom, a bridal party, a church, a date, invitations sent out, and everything.

The only thing that was missing was the maid of honor's dress, and the ring bearer's.

Of course, the reason we hadn't been out shopping yet was all my mother's doing. Anyone who knew my mom knew that she hated shopping with a passion… unless it was with her own money. And, of course, since this was Aunt Alice's wedding, our Uncle Jasper and everyone related to us was paying for it, essentially.

Hence my mother's reluctance to go shopping.

"Oh, honestly, Bella," Aunt Alice responded the instant my mom start complaining when we were in her car, safely on our way to the nearest bridal shop. "Just go along with me on this one. I want your dress picked out now, before I have Esme arrange everything."

Esme was a very loving woman, who was Aunt Alice's, Uncle Emmett's, and Edward's mother. Of course, she wasn't related to me by blood, but I still viewed her as a grandmother. As I was sure that she viewed me as a granddaughter.

My mother just sighed. She was sitting in the passenger seat, while I was in the back. She leaned into her seat and grumbled about not being able to pay for her own dress. I saw Aunt Alice roll her eyes and I grinned to myself. My mother was so stubborn, just like me. But Aunt Alice was a lot of fun, and I definitely didn't mind shopping as much as my mom did. Maybe it was an adult thing.

It was only took five minutes to get to the bridal shop and park in the rather small parking lot surrounding it.

"Now, Bella, I don't want to hear one more complaint out of you until we're out of that store," Alice announced as she turned the car off. "I want this wedding to be perfect, and damn it you are going to wear the best dress I can find you. I don't care if it's the most expensive one in the store - you're going to wear it."

I laughed, and my mother turned around in her seat to glare at me playfully.

That was another thing that had changed. While before, my mother rarely joked around with me, now she was always grinning at me, teasing me, or even just playing around. I had no problems with it, of course. In fact, I was a lot happier that she was so free. It was just another change I noticed that was brought about by Edward.

"That goes for you too, Riley," Alice added on firmly, eyeing me over her sunglasses as she too turned around to look at me.

"I know, Aunt Alice," I answered, a smile on my face. I didn't mind wearing a pretty dress as much as my mother did.

Aunt Alice grinned at me - she seemed to hear the eager acceptance in my voice. She got out of the car, and I quickly followed suit. My mother was the last to get out of the car, a stubborn expression on her face as she self-consciously crossed her arms over her chest.

Yeesh, did Mom hate shopping.

The instant we were in the store, a kind woman came up to us with a gigantic smile. She embraced Alice, and I figured they knew each other.

"Alice, doll!" exclaimed the woman. "It's so lovely to see you! How has the wedding planning been going, my dear?"

"It's going great, Judy. Thanks," Aunt Alice gushed as they let go of each other. She smiled and gestured towards me and my mother. "I have a maid of honor and a ring-bearer here, both in need of dresses. Think you could help us out?" The smile on her face was impossible for anyone to resist.

"Of course!" Judy had a huge smile on her face, and she instantly began leading us to the racks of beautiful dresses they had hanging. The instant we reached the racks however, it seemed that our guide Judy was all business and no play.

"Now, I'm assuming you want both dresses to be themed around yours… so we'll discard all of these ridiculous colors and go straight for the whites," Judy told us firmly, tapping her chin thoughtfully. The instant she said this, she moved down the aisle and motioned for us to follow. Aunt Alice leaned in close as we followed Judy.

"Judy is an expert with dresses. She's helped me through this entire experience, and I swear the lady's a genius," Alice whispered.

"Here we are. Now… er… what's your name?" Judy was staring at my mother, flustered and embarrassed.

"Bella," my mom instantly answered with a cheerful smile. She gestured to me. "And this is my daughter, Riley."

Judy nodded briefly to me before handing a rather fluffy white dress to my mom. Just by the look in her eyes, I could tell she hated it. And by the expression on my aunt's face, she wasn't too fond of it either. I smirked, but then blanched when Judy handed me the exact same one in a smaller size. Ugh. Maybe shopping wasn't as great as I thought.

My mother and I both ended up trying on four different dresses - not including the horrible one that my Aunt Alice 'discarded' the instant we both tried them on.

Alice ended up picking out identical dresses for the pair of us. My mother and I looked like mirror images of each other - though I of course looked much younger, and I was pretty sure that my body wasn't as developed as my mother's. Aunt Alice had said that we looked utterly adorable. And she thought it was sweet that mother and daughter looked so alike. And, after all, we were going to stray a bit from usual tradition and have me stand alongside my Uncle Jasper and Emmett at the altar. It had been Aunt Alice's and Uncle Jasper's mutual decision. I, of course, had no problem with it.

Both of our dresses were off-white, strapless, and went all the way own to our ankles. They were very nice dresses, and (to my mother's joy) happened to be the cheapest of what we tried on. Which, of course, made my mother fall in love with the dress.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Aunt Alice declared as we exited the store - the dresses reserved for us. They'd be sent to Alice's house within three days, because minor adjustments had to be made because of my height. And since all of the women involved with the wedding would be getting ready at Aunt Alice's house, my mother had convinced my zealous aunt to take in the dresses. She'd used the excuse that if she lost the dresses by the time the wedding rolled around, Alice's maid-of-honor and ring-bearer would be forced to wear simple jeans and t-shirts to the ceremony and reception.

Despite the ridiculous notion of that happening, the threat was enough for my aunt.

"Alright," Alice said as we now drove to lunch. "Rosalie is meeting us at the restaurant for a girl's lunch out. Then…" She let out a dramatic sigh. "I'll release you from your cage so you can rush to your natural habitat."

My mother hadn't been paying attention. "What?" she asked, sounding like an idiot who'd been caught daydreaming.

Alice shook her head. "After lunch, you can head back home. I don't have anything else to do today."

My mom's face lit up like the Fourth of July. Because, I knew, that we probably wouldn't be going home. We'd be going to Aunt Alice's to visit Edward. I didn't mind that much, honestly, mainly because Edward would often play Guitar Hero with me if he wasn't making out with my mom.

Which, have I mentioned, really grosses me out?

I mean, they don't make out of course as one would think of it normally. They would make those gooey eyes at each other and would always be smiling. And then would, occasionally, usually when Edward asked permission, they'd share a kiss. Which is just as bad as watching someone make out. Because it was just as gross. Especially when one of the person in the relationship was your own mother.

Aunt Alice drove us to Navy Pier, my favorite place in Chicago. It was a sunny day today, and since it was a Friday, it was packed. Just the way I liked it.

We parked in a parking garage nearly a mile away, and got out of the car. Aunt Alice pulled out her cell phone and called Aunt Rosalie to verify exactly where we were meeting. When she got off the phone, my loveable aunt informed us that Rosalie would be waiting for us outside the parking garage.

We made our way down three flights of stairs, and I stayed close to my mother of course. She held my hand on the way down, and I was secretly please to know that even though she was going out with Edward now 'officially', she still really cared about me deep down inside. I know that, at this point, I probably sounded like a stuffed up teenage brat, but I couldn't help but fear my mother's care for me had dissipated at some point in her and Edward's relationship.

"Riley, baby!" Aunt Rosalie was waiting for us outside, looking stunning as always. She was so pretty that it made my head hurt, almost. She wrapped her arms around me, kissing the top of my head in that motherly kind of way. Out of the two aunts I had, Aunt Rosalie was the fiercer maternal one. I think it had to do with the fact that she was fertile - as my mother had explained - and couldn't have any children with Uncle Emmett. So she made do with whatever children she could. Which, I guess, included me. "You doing okay, honey?"

"Yeah. Aunt Alice made us go shopping this morning, and we got dresses," I informed her, with a grin. "They're really nice."

"Of course they are," Aunt Rosalie scoffed as she tousled my brown hair. "Anything Alice picks out is automatically fashionable. And I'll be damned if her wedding isn't perfect. Including the dresses."

My mom cleared her throat behind us. "Rose, language…" she warned.

"Bah, Bells," Rosalie scoffed again. "Your daughter is fifteen, and I doubt she's said hardly any curse words yet. She needs to buck up."

I felt my cheeks go red in embarrassment, and found it hard to picture myself swearing, especially in front of my mom.

"All because you cursed constantly as a teenager does not mean a normal one like mine does," my mother retorted, her voice instantly playful. I smiled at the sound.

"Whatever, innocent-minded little Bella," Aunt Rosalie snickered, and grinned at the three of us. "Now, where are we stopping to eat this time?"

"How about that nice little place that sells the smoothies? And is half outdoor?" Aunt Alice suggested, adjusting the scarf around her neck. "That place is really cute. I love all the guys that walk by there."

"Ali, you're getting married!" Rosalie laughed, slapping Aunt Alice lightly on the arm. "You can't be considering cheating on Jazz already!"

Aunt Alice giggled and shook her head. "Oh, ye who have little faith," she giggled. "Of course I wouldn't do that. I'm talking for Riley here." She winked at me.

Blood flooded to my cheeks, and heat rose to my face. The instant they said that, my mind flashed to Seth. I didn't really know why, but for some reason it did. I mean, in rehearsals I'd always thought he was pretty cute, and as the two leads we would have to work a lot together. And he was around my age, maybe a year or two older. Just thinking about him and his dark hair and dark eyes made my heart flutter in some really weird way that I didn't understand. Like my heart stopped and then restarted again, like my stomach was doing little flips in my belly.

Wait, why was I thinking so much about this again?

The damage was done.

"Oh, does little Riles have a guy in mind?" Aunt Rosalie teased me at the sight of the look on my face.

I could practically feel my mom snap her head around to look at me fiercely, her gaze burning a hole into the side of my face as I managed to stutter out,

"Not really. I mean, k-kind of…"

"Riley Renee Swan," came the demanding voice of my mother. "What on earth are you talking about? You don't like anyone, right?"

"I said not really," I answered in a mumble with a shrug.

"That proves it," my Aunt Alice announced. "There _is_ someone. Come on, Riley dear, spill while we walk."

I heard my mother grind her teeth.

"Well, I um…" I managed to say, my face still ridiculously red. "I mean, I just think he's cute… I don't really like him that much. I mean, I don't like him like that. I… ugh, do I have to talk about this?"

"Yes," came the simultaneous cries from my aunts as we walked.

I sighed, and glanced at my mother out of the corner of my eye. Her face was red too, but not from embarrassment. I wasn't entirely sure what was making her upset, but I could tell something was. I'd have to talk about it with her later - I didn't want Mom upset. Especially since she was so happy these days with Edward. But I still wasn't sure what she was upset over.

As we walked, I spilled - knowing my aunts would never rest until I told them.

"The boy who plays Demetri… Seth Clearwater," I muttered.

Both of my aunts squealed. My mother grinded her teeth more.

"I must say, niece of my mine," my Aunt Rosalie gushed, "you have a very good taste in men. I know I'm too old for him, but it he were my age, I'd take him in bed. Very nice choice indeed."

I'm pretty sure my face got redder, if that was even possible. We entered the place with the smoothies, and my mother still looked like she was about to blow a gasket.

X-x-X

_Bella_

"Bella, you seem anxious. Is something wrong?"

After lunch, Alice had driven Riley and I to her home. Edward had been there, and I'd asked him to join my up in his room for a talk. I needed to get this out, and not in front of Riley. I didn't want to frighten her, but I could tell she knew something was wrong. And even though I was ready to castrate this Clearwater kid for seducing my daughter into liking him… I knew I couldn't do it. If there really was a possibility that Riley did like him… I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair worriedly. Edward noticed.

He gently took my hands, as he did whenever I was doing something that worried him, and looked at me.

"Bella… what's wrong?"

I let out a shaky breath. "Riley likes that boy, Seth Clearwater," I managed to choke out worriedly.

Edward paused, taking in what I said. "And what is the problem with that? Riley is a fifteen-year old teenager, Bella… she's bound to begin liking boys of her own age."

"I know," I choked out, and felt the breakdown coming on. "But she said something that scared me, Edward. Something that scared me almost more than anything."

Edward frowned now, confused by my statement. "What do you mean?" he asked softly, making sure we weren't going to be heard.

"That's exactly what I said about James… the first time someone asked about him in front of me…" I got it out in breaths, and winced when I said my first boyfriend's name. It was almost like saying Satan in church… only ten times worse, because it was physically painful.

Instantly, Edward's arms were around me, holding me tight against him. One of the best things about Edward was that he always knew when to hold me. When to hold my hands, or just hold me close to him in general. It just made me feel safe. It was like this with Jazz too… but in a completely different way.

"I'm so sorry you have to think about that every day, Bella," he whispered to me gently. His voice was smooth and caressing, like velvet. Even his voice made me feel safe. "But I can assure you that Seth Clearwater is a very respectable young man. He always shows up to rehearsals on time, and he treats Riley like a real lady. You don't have anything to worry about from him. Or your daughter. If need be, I'll keep an extra eye on her next time at rehearsal."

I smiled, but it did nothing to make me feel any easier about this whole thing.

Now, I knew what Edward was saying was right. Seth Clearwater was a very nice young boy and he was always nice to Riley. That day we had rehearsal, right after we'd found out about James… he'd treated Riley like a princess. He'd asked her if she needed anything and even took care of her throughout the rehearsal, trying to act like a gentleman. James had never done that for me, as I'd realized, and I knew Riley wasn't in danger from Seth. But that still didn't stop the haunting memories from running through my mind.

"Thank you, Edward," I whispered against the material of his shirt.

Edward smiled down at me, and pulled away from our embrace. He gently tucked a stray strand of my hair behind my ear - an affectionate gesture, I assumed, and gestured to the door.

"I guess we'd better head back down there. I think Jasper wanted to cook something for us tonight. Please tell me he's a good cook."

I was glad he was changing the subject to a lighter matter. I let out a small laugh, which in reality was all I could manage at the moment.

"Of course he can. He was born a Swan, which means he already has cooking in his blood," I assured him playfully as he took my hand and let me out into the hallway. Edward laughed at my joke, and began leading me down the stairs.

"I'm sure it is," he answered as we went back to the living room to see everyone.

* * *

EOC: Finally finished it! =D I'm so proud of myself, guys. I keep on trucking with this thing, and I've vowed to myself that I'll finish it someday. I know most of you guys are probably sick of me by now, not updating very often anymore and all. A lot of my inspiration has just… I don't know… died out. I'm trying to get it back, but with all the original stuff I'm working on, writing Bella and Edward doesn't seem as good as it once was. I mean, it's fun to write it, I just don't think I can write it with quality anymore, as strange as that sounds. But don't worry, I'm definitely going to keep working on this one.

Well, anyway, you saw there a glimpse of what Edward and Bella's relationship is like. I have no experience with this at all, actually, because the only relationship I've ever had is the one I'm still in right now… and we're never really done much. So I honestly am no good when it comes to the love department. If it seems really bad, let me know. I'll try and improve. Until next time! - Dark and Wild P.S. Reviews!!!!!! I get drunk off of them. XD And they keep me going, believe me they do.


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